Honda Yuki
by Tayk
Summary: AU. As far as he knows, Yuki was born to Honda Katsuya and Kyoko. But even if he doesn't remember, the truth hasn't vanished. The Sohma curse is still strong and Akito is still looking for his Rat. Chapter 19: Delayed by a short hiatus. Thousand apologies
1. Pompoms In Her Hair

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the __Furuba__ characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**  
Summary: **__He had wanted out. And so he ran. He hadn't wanted to go back. And so he hadn't. He had hoped never to see them again. But things spun out of his control, and now __Sohma__ Yuki was dead.__**  
Author's Note: **__Whoot. First full-length Furuba story. I've been planning something like this for, gosh, HOW long?!_

**Honda Yuki  
**

Yuki had had enough. Enough ofAkito's harsh words; enough of his parents' rejection; enough of the stares, the indifference, the jealousy in the eyes of the others in the Zodiac. Enough of the darkness, the sickness, the fear that hung over the Sohma house, and especially him, like a dark cloud.

He wanted out. _Now._

Yuki grabbed the hat, the one Kyo had refused to take back. It suited Kyo better, really, but he wore it anyway. He put on his shoes and hurried out the door. He didn't even glance over his shoulder.

Yuki didn't know where he was going. He didn't know when he'd be back, or if he would ever come back at all. He didn't care. He just wanted out.

* * *

Right after dawn, the streets were nearly empty. Yuki had long since lost track of where he was. His breathing came in harsh gasps, every lungful clawing its cruel way through his chest. It wasn't good for his asthma. Yuki knew that. He didn't care. Despite the painful burning of his lungs, his feet flew ever faster. Each step increased his momentum so that each had to fly more quickly than the step before it. Sweat, cold and clammy in the early morning chill, coated his face in a thin, grimy layer. Still, Yuki didn't stop. He wasn't sure he remembered how. 

And then, he found something.

The wail came from nearby, hocking Yuki into stillness. He peered around a building and saw a woman, about his mother's age, and two men that he vaguely knew were policemen. The woman was bawling and the policemen tried in vain to comfort her.

"'Keep it down'?!" snapped the lady. "How can I keep it down when my only daughter is missing? Stop talking to me and go find my baby!" Her voice and she started crying again. Yuki stared. He felt very small, suddenly confronted with what he both longed for and feared. There was a strange, tingling feeling inside him, uncomfortable but not at all unpleasant. Yuki's throat felt tight as he continued to watch the mother and the policemen.

"We need more of a description," explained one of the men.

The woman dropped her head into her hands and sobbed without speaking. Then she regained composure with an almost audible snap and looked up, eyes blazing. "I already told you! She's an _adorable_ little girl with an _adorable _face and voice wearing _adorable _clothes with _adorable_ pom-poms in her hair! She's so fricken adorable that someone probably walked off with her!"

Pom-poms in her hair… the comment jogged something in his memory. He had seen a girl like that while he was running. How long ago had that been? His sense of time had been completely skewed, but the sky had been getting light. Still breathing hard, Yuki turned and walked back along his path.

* * *

Which way was the Sohma House? Yuki didn't know. He'd been skulking around the little girl's house for the past few hours, to make sure she was indeed alright, and no longer knew which way was which. He didn't know exactly why he hadn't left yet, as she was most definitely safe now. Perhaps it was the pull of a love he had never known that held such sway over him. Perhaps it was simple curiosity, simply wondering what would happen when he didn't return to his family home. 

Well, Yuki was afraid to leave now. Even if he had wanted to go back, he would probably just get himself even more lost.

Whatever held him there, midmorning found Yuki sitting with his back against the wall and staring blankly sideways at the door. It opened suddenly. Yuki's head snapped forward, anxious not to be caught staring, and he tilted his head upward a little to watch a passing cloud.

"_Ohayou__gozaimasu__ – _good morning! Are you waiting for someone?" Yuki turned his head again to see the eyes of the girl peering at him. She was wearing Kyo's hat.

"_Iie__ – _no, I'm not." Yuki wanted to say more, to see if she recognized him. He lost his nerve and said nothing. He wanted to ask her, certainly, wanted her to recognize him, wanted to recreate the feeling of being needed, if only for a false moment. But he didn't. He was too afraid.

"Would you mind terribly if I asked what you were doing, then?" Normally the question would have sounded suspicious. From her, it was nothing but polite curiosity. Yuki felt obligated to answer. He shifted uncomfortably, a blush staining his pale cheeks.

"I was just making sure you got home alright," he mumbled, half lying.

"_Ka_?" the girl asked, tilting her head to one side. Her gaze swept him up and down and her eyes widened as she recognized his clothing. "Ah! You're the boy who helped me last night, is that right?"

Yuki gave a fractional nod. The girl immediately bowed.

"_Arigatou __gozaimasu_ – thank you very much! Please, come inside. I'll make lunch as a thank you!" She blushed and stuttered quickly, "T-that is, if you want me to!" She shyly held out a hand to help him up.

Yuki looked at her. A smile curled at the corners of his lips. "I'd like that very much._Arigatou__ –_ thank you." The girl helped him to his feet and let go of his hand. She led him back towards the apartment. They began to climb flights of stairs, the girl leading.

"My name is Tohru," she offered.

"_Hajimemashita__ –_ I'm pleased to meet you, Tohru-san," he replied automatically. "I'm Yuki."

"_Hajimemashita__!"_ Tohru chirped. "This is my door," she added, pointing. The two children walked inside, Tohru cheerfully and Yuki cautiously. He hunched his shoulders, instinctively trying to make himself smaller.

"_Okaa__-san, __tadaima_" Tohru called. "I'm home, mom!"

"_Okaeri__!"_ came the cheerful reply. "Welcome home! You couldn't have gone all the way to the store, Tohru-chan!" A woman emerged into the front hall, where Tohru had neatly taken off her shoes and Yuki was doing the same. "Eh? Who is this?" the woman asked. Yuki mumbled that he was sorry for intruding and bowed his head briefly.

"This is Yuki-san! He brought me home last night," explained Tohru. "I thought I'd make him lunch as a thank you."

"That's a good idea," agreed the woman. "Tohru's cooking is very good, Yuki-kun. You'll enjoy it." Tohru went bright red.

"Please make yourself comfortable, Yuki-san!" the girl said, bowing. To her mother, she added, "I'm going to the store now!" She turned and hurried out the door. When it had closed, he turned shyly to the woman. She met his gaze and smiled.

"My name is Honda Kyoko."

"_Hajimemashita_"

"Come sit with me," Kyoko offered. She walked into another room. At the Sohma main house, the décor was very much in the traditional Japanese style. Here, Kyoko seemed to have gone for a Western style. There were two small couches on the carpeted floor. She sat on one, looking very much at home. He tentatively lowered himself onto the other.

"Where do you go to school, Yuki-san? My Tohru goes to Kawakami, just down the street."

Yuki named his private school aloud. He wished he could have gone to Kawakami, the public school for his part of Tokyo. Obviously he wasn't as far from home as he'd thought.

"Do you like going to school there?"

"Yes, ma'am, it's a nice school," Yuki answered dutifully. Truthfully, he hated it. Yuki was in the third grade now, and he had no friends. No one talked to him. And the homework was too hard, but his mother didn't care enough to help him with it.

Kyoko seemed to know all this, because she looked at him piercingly. Yuki fidgeted and wouldn't meet her eyes. After a moment, she changed the subject.

"Where do you live, Yuki-san? I'll drive you home after lunch."

Fear welled up in his chest and he felt his eyes go wide. When he went home, Akito would be angry with him. And when Akito was angry with him…

Yuki saw in his mind's eye the little black room, where Akito told him awful things, until he screamed and begged for him to stop. And he begged for someone to come and get him, but no one ever came.

"Oh, no, ma'am, please! Please don't take me back!" he blurted. Then he froze. "I mean, I can get home on my own. You don't have to go through the trouble." But the damage was done. Kyoko looked surprised, and then smiled gently.

"Do you want to talk about… anything?" she asked kindly. Yuki wanted to. But he looked down and shook his head no. "Sure? Strangers are always better to talk to."

Yuki glanced up quickly. He caught her eye, saw the sincere concern and kindness in her gaze, and was overcome by that feeling again. The warm, tingly feeling in his chest, the one that he couldn't recognize and didn't really like, but would give anything to keep. And the floodgates opened, and he talked.

Yuki spoke dully at first, hesitantly, telling her nothing about his last name, or family secrets, or the curse. But he told her that he had a brother more than twice his age, and that his brother had never spoken to him. He told her that his father was gone – not dead, not divorced from his mother, just… gone – and that his mother had practically sold him to the tyrannical head of the family. His shoulders began to shake.

Kyoko moved to sit on the couch with him, though safely on the other side. She edged toward him slowly but surely, and stopped when he showed any nervousness. But when he relaxed, she started again.

Soon, she sat very close to him, and very gently reached up to touch his shoulder. Her touch was very light, and he could hardly feel it, but the tingly feeling in his chest grew and he couldn't hold it in any more. He started crying while he talked. He hadn't cried in years. But he cried in front of her, an almost complete stranger, someone he had met only an hour ago. He should shut up. He should just shut up right now, get up and leave the apartment, run and never look back. But he didn't. He wanted to stay with Tohru and her mom forever.

Eventually, his words ran out and he was left curled up on the sofa cushion, sobbing into his knees. Kyoko had left her hand on his shoulder for a while, but now she was rubbing his back. She reached out with her other arm to hug him.

That was when Yuki regained his senses. Everything anyone had ever told him raced through his head. _You're a freak. When people hug you, you turn into a rat. __Freak.__ Freak.__ Freak._ He rolled off the couch, landing hard on the floor, and scrambled away, muttering apologies all the while. They sat in complete and extremely awkward silence until Tohru returned.

During lunch, both Tohru and Kyoko tried to engage him in conversation, but Yuki ate in silence. He was nervous and just wanted to get out of there as fast as he could.

When lunch was finished, he stood and bowed. "Thank you very much for lunch," Yuki said. "I'll go now."

And without waiting for consent or acknowledgement, Yuki turned and fled the apartment. He hoped that he would never have to see Honda Kyoko, with her kind smile and genuine concern for him, or Honda Tohru, with her cheerful demeanor and over-polite gestures, again.

Fate laughed at that hope.


	2. I Can Do It Myself

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**  
Author's Note: **__Yes, yes, I know. 'A car crash?! How cliché can you get?!' But it's not really my story. It's Yuki's. And he wanted a car crash, so I gave it to him._

**Honda Yuki**

He didn't go back to the Sohma house. The threat of Akito's punishment was more than enough to keep him away. But he didn't have anywhere else to go – no friends on which he could rely. So he lived on the streets. It wasn't so hard, for the Rat. He picked pockets. He ate from dumpsters. Whatever he needed to do, so long as he didn't go back to the Sohma house… or to the little apartment in which Honda Kyoko and Tohru lived.

A couple of times, he had seen people he knew – the older members of the Zodiac, his mother, the parents of the younger Zodiacs, and other miscellaneous Sohmas. They were running, usually, and always looking for something. For him. Akito wanted his Rat back.

When Yuki saw them, he clenched his teeth and stared defiantly at them from whatever hiding place he had ducked into. He would not go back. No matter what, he wouldn't.

The searches became less and less as the days wore on and, two weeks after he had run away, they stopped altogether. Two more weeks passed, and he had seen no searches. Yuki felt as free as he ever had.

And then he saw them again. Not the Sohmas, looking for him, but a mother and a daughter, just taking a stroll. The instant he saw them, the warm and tingly feeling surged through his chest. He ran from them, without their knowing. He was on the other side of the street, going the other way.

He ran across an intersection, running not so much from Honda Kyoko and Tohru as from the pleasant feeling that they inspired in him. He just wanted it to go away, to leave him unfeeling and safe.

A horn blared. Yuki turned. The brakes screeched.

Pain.

Blackness.

* * *

When he woke up, it was to the steady, high-pitched beep of a machine. That was the first thing he was aware of. Then came the pain, a dull aching pain that engulfed his entire body. He whimpered. 

"Oh! Tohru – he's awake!"

Tohru… Why did that name sound familiar? He forced his eyes open and blinked wearily at the bright fluorescent light above him.

"What? He's awake?! I'll – I'll – I'll get a nurse!" Footsteps. A door opened, and then closed. He turned his head. He saw a woman, perhaps in her mid-to-late twenties, with dark blond hair and kind, concerned eyes. He felt like he knew her, but from where?

"You had us worried, Yuki-san," she said. "How are you feeling?"

He opened his mouth to speak. It took a while for him to remember how to work his voice. "Where am I?" he asked first. Then, "Who are you?" And as an afterthought, "Who am I?"

She looked surprised, and then she smiled. He liked her smile. He didn't know why, but he felt that he hadn't been smiled at like that very often. "You're in a hospital. A car hit you – don't you remember?"

He shook his head.

"My name is Kyoko. Yours is Yuki. We met about a month ago. Remember that?"

He shook his head again.

The door opened. A man with blond hair and a little girl who looked like Kyoko came in.

"How do you feel?" the man asked him in a business-like voice.

"Bad," Yuki replied succinctly.

"Any pain? Do you feel sick to your stomach, or dizzy? Does your head hurt?"

Yuki glanced at Kyoko and was reassured when she quietly reached out and took his hand. Her skin was dry and warm and it felt nice. "I ache all over," he told the man. "And my head hurts really bad."

"I don't think he remembers anything, Dr Sukunami," Kyoko said. "One of the first things he asked was his own name."

The man checked a clip board and sighed. "I had hoped otherwise, but I'm not surprised. He hit his head pretty hard when he landed." To Yuki, he said, "You've got a lot of fractured bones, three on one leg and five on the other, and about ten on your ribs, and you're bruised all over. We've already got your right arm in a cast, as I'm sure you've noticed. You've been asleep for almost a day and a half. But the worst thing is probably the concussion you got. We can't do anything more than we already have here. The best thing for you to do would be to go home and get lots of rest."

When he said 'home', Yuki tensed. Pain flared through his chest, but he did a pretty good job of ignoring it. The word _home_ – it sounded bad. He didn't want to go there. He didn't even know where it was, or what he was so afraid of. "I don't want to go home," he told the doctor quietly.

Dr Sukunami frowned. "Why ever not?"

"I – I – I – " Yuki stuttered, trying to think of something to say. It was amazing to him how scared the simple word made him feel.

"He'll stay with us," Kyoko said firmly. "We're close family friends, my daughter and I. Yuki's family is rather disjointed. His parents are divorced, and his mother has a new boyfriend. She hasn't the time for him. He'll be more comfortable with us. Isn't that right, Tohru, Yuki?"

"Oh, yes, okaa-san! That's a great idea!" Tohru chirped, beaming.

Yuki looked in surprise at Kyoko. Was all of that true? "Yes," he said quietly. "I'd like that."

The doctor looked vaguely worried, but Kyoko's expression left absolutely no room for argument.

"Very well. Please call at once if anything unusual happens."

* * *

An hour later, Kyoko pushed Yuki out of the hospital in a wheel chair. It had been decided that he should use one until his legs were healed enough for crutches. 

"I can do it myself," Yuki complained.

"Not with your arm like that, Yuki-san!" Tohru, walking beside him, protested. "It would hurt you even more!"

Yuki glanced at the thick white cast that encased pretty much his entire right arm. It was true, he conceded. He couldn't even move his arm, unless it was at the shoulder. He could wiggle his fingers, but that was it. He leaned back in the chair and touched his left fingers lightly to his chest, near his heart, where the warm tingly feeling still lingered.

"Are your ribs bothering you?" Kyoko asked. He tilted his chin up to look at her, smiled a little, and shook his head no.

It was strange. In the back of his mind, the blank part, where he assumed his memories had been, he felt that he should stand up right now and run away from these people. But the rest of him realized that standing up and running would do him no good – and, after all, they had saved him from going _home_… whatever it was about going home that scared him so much, he was glad not to go back.

Yuki knew that he should feel perturbed by his lack of memories, and that he shouldn't trust so easily. But he trusted them, and he felt at peace around them. So what if he couldn't remember anything, even his last name? It didn't matter.

"Was it true what you said?" he asked Kyoko.

"What did I say?"

"About my family," he prompted.

Kyoko laughed. "Of course not! I've never met your family. But I didn't want you to go back to them. I want you to stay with Tohru and me, okay?"

"Okay."

And that was the end of that conversation.

It wasn't until they actually got to the apartment building that Yuki realized a slight problem.

"How am I going to get up all those stairs?"

Kyoko and Tohru blinked. They hadn't thought of that.

"I guess I'll have to carry you up," Kyoko said finally. "Tohru, can you lift the chair?"

"I think so," Tohru said.

Though he didn't really _mind_ not having his memories, the very idea of Kyoko – a woman – carrying him made Yuki more scared than he was of the mention of going home.

"No!" he said loudly. "I'll – I'll make it up on my own! I can do it!"

Kyoko frowned. "Don't be silly. You aren't even supposed to stand – how will you manage to climb all these stairs?" Her scolding tone lightened up a little when she added, "I promise not to drop you, if that's what you're worried about."

"I can make it on my own," Yuki insisted.

"Okaa-san, maybe he should try," Tohru said quietly. "And we'll give him help when he needs it. Yuki-san doesn't know how injured he is, I think."

Kyoko nodded. "Alright, Yuki. Go ahead. If you need help, we'll be right here."

To carry him up the rest of the way – and then what he was about to do would be useless. No, he knew how injured he was. His legs hurt something awful, as did his ribs and arm and head, but he couldn't get close to a girl. That much he knew for absolutely certain.

Yuki grimaced, and then slowly eased himself out of the chair. Tohru hurried over and offered her hand. He took it gratefully and stood. Immediately, pain flared up his legs and Yuki stifled a hiss. He grimaced, but took a cautious step toward the stair case. Tohru kept hold of one of his hands, for which he was grateful.

After what seemed an eternity, Yuki sat on the second-lowest stair, his eyes clenched shut, breathing hard.

Kyoko laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You want help?" she asked.

"I can do it," he insisted. Yuki forced himself to ignore the pain and slowly made his way up the stairs, releasing Tohru's hold on his good hand and using that to help him. Kyoko and Tohru stayed with him, only moving up a step after he had. It was slow, painful work, but he shook his head stubbornly at every mention of help. It was extremely important that neither of them hugged him.

Finally, _finally_, they all made it to the apartment. Tohru had had the good sense to drag the wheel chair up the stairs behind her, and it was without any of his former reservations that Yuki plopped gratefully into it.

Kyoko opened the door and then pushed him inside.

And so Yuki began a new life with Kyoko and Tohru.

* * *

_**Quick Ending Author's Note: **__I am EXTREMELY dissatisfied with this chapter, but I know that I could re-do it a thousand times and I still wouldn't like it… so you guys get the fifth one. Thanks so much for the reviews! They're so encouraging._


	3. You're Staying With Us

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**Author's Note: **__Thanks again for all the reviews, you guys. I get warm fuzzy feelings, knowing that people like what I write –or at least are willing to take the time to flame what I write. Same thing.__I was going to do a scene with the Sohmas in it, and their schemes for finding Yuki, but this isn't their story. It's his. So no Sohmas yet, sorry._

**Honda Yuk****i**

The first few days in the Honda household were hard for Yuki. Tohru and Kyoko seemed to need a higher level of touch than other people. When something good happened, even something as simple as one of Tohru's wonderful meals, they would hug. When something bad happened, such as the time Tohru had a bad day at school, they would hug. It took a while to remember that Yuki was strangely averse to hugging, or any sort of physical contact, really. He tried to be friendly and polite to the Hondas, and was very grateful for their help, and for the guest futon they provided for him.

Of course, he couldn't leave the apartment. He wasn't a prisoner, at least not by intent. But he was adamant that he would not be carried anywhere, and Kyoko downright refused to let him go up and down the stairs by himself again.

"At least until you can do so without hurting yourself and, no, this is not up for discussion, young man," she said, glaring at him.

Yuki raised no protest.

He had become fast friends with Tohru – she was so cheerful and friendly, it was hard not to like her! – and had a close bond with Kyoko, as well.

A month dragged by, sometimes at a snail's pace and sometimes flying as quickly as a bird. The times when Kyoko and Tohru were home were the best in his, admittedly rather empty, memory. When they were gone, Kyoko to work and Tohru to school (he couldn't expect their lives to put on pause because of him, as he informed them quite loudly), he lounged around the house in a state of utter boredom.

Kyoko asked him after work one day if he would like to attend school with Tohru, once he could walk on crutches. Yuki decided that nothing would make him happier. Kyoko ruffled his hair and went to register him for Kawakami Elementary. Cheerfully, Yuki looked down at his legs. The right leg, the less damaged, was almost healed, if what the doctor had said was correct. He would be able to go to school soon!

Yuki liked to learn. He had studied with Tohru while she did her homework, but Tohru – much as she tried – was not a very good teacher.

After this exciting news, there were only a few more days to wait before Yuki could get one of his leg casts off, if not both. As excited as he was, Yuki was also a little bit scared. What if Kyoko only wanted him around until he was healed fully? Would she kick him out? The logical part of his mind, the part that knew the Hondas and had been staying with them for a month, said not to be silly, they won't do that, they're always so kind! But from the vague feelings that lingered from before the car crash, Yuki knew that even people who seemed kind were capable of being cruel. It drove him mad, sometimes, not being able to remember anything about himself.

Tohru called that dinner was ready, and Yuki abandoned dismal philosophical thoughts in favor of one of Tohru's delicious meals.

* * *

Though he told himself firmly, over the next two and a half days, not to be stupid, that of course he wouldn't have to leave the Honda apartment, Yuki found himself sporadically worried. If Kyoko noticed the way his face would sometimes fall and his expression would contort unhappily, she said nothing. Tohru, on the other hand, confronted him. 

"Are you nervous, Yuki-san?" she asked, about an hour before they would leave for the hospital.

Yuki blinked. "Yes," he admitted.

"About what? Does it hurt to get casts off?"

"I don't know… I hope not."

Tohru put her index finger on her chin, thinking. "Are you worried that you'll have to go back to your family after you get your cast off?"

Yuki slumped in his wheelchair. "Yes," he murmured sullenly.

Tohru frowned. "That's silly!" she proclaimed. "You're my friend; you're coming to school with me and staying here. And when we met you, you were scared of your family. Okaa-san knows that! She won't make you go back! We don't even know who your family is."

Worry could not live in the face of logic.

Yuki smiled. "Thanks, Tohru. I know it was silly." He took her hand, which he had used to replace the dreaded hugs. "I don't want to leave. I like being here."

Tohru squeezed his hand. "I won't let you go anywhere," she said insistently. "You're staying with us."

He grinned.

* * *

"Okay, Yuki-kun, you're all set," said the doctor, an hour and a half later. Yuki smiled and looked down at his leg. It didn't have a cast anymore, something that made Yuki extremely proud. The other leg, and his arm, were still trapped but that was something he could live with.

"I can walk on it now, right?" he asked eagerly.

"You should take it easy for a while… but yes. As long as you're using at least one crutch, you should be able to walk on it." Dr Sukunami handed him a pair of crutches. He instructed Yuki on how to hold them, and the best way to use them without pressuring his arm too much. "Come on, then, let's see you try."

Yuki nodded and set his free foot firmly on the ground. It felt strange and awkward to not have the cast anymore, and he felt rather weak. But he shifted the crutches a little bit and hauled himself upright. He adjusted his balance a little, so that he didn't toppled to one side or the other, and unsteady started to cross the length of the room.

When he got to the opposite wall, Yuki blinked. "How do I turn?" he asked, looking at Dr Sukunami over his shoulder.

The man chuckled and gave him a few tips.

By the time he went out to meet Tohru and Kyoko in the waiting room, Yuki was more-or-less an expert on walking with crutches.

It was amazing how free he felt, being able to use one of his legs. While he couldn't walk completely on his own, he no longer had to rely entirely on Kyoko and Tohru if he wanted to move.

* * *

The next morning, Yuki woke up to a happy cry of "Yuki-san! Wake up! You have to get ready for school!"

"School?!" Yuki repeated, instantly awake. "I'm up, Tohru!" he called back to her. He managed to get upright after a few seconds, changed into his new school uniform – and then paused for a moment to bask in the glory of those words – and rushed out for breakfast. Well, rushed as fast as he could with crutches.

In the doorway to the kitchen, he almost ran into Kyoko.

"Watch out!" the woman laughed.

"Sorry!" said Yuki. Kyoko ruffled his hair with one of her trademark grins.

"The way you're motoring, I'd almost say you were eager or something!"

"I am!" he enthused. "I'm so excited – I get to go to school with Tohru!"

"Well, don't hyperventilate just yet! You've got forty-five minutes before we can leave."

Yuki sagged against his crutches. "That _long_?" he whined. "Can't we go sooner?"

Kyoko shook her head. "And school doesn't start for another thirty minutes after that," she added helpfully, grinning when Yuki pouted. "Let's eat breakfast, yeah?"

"Breakfast is ready!" Tohru chirped, right on cue. "Come and eat, please!"

Kyoko helped Tohru carry out the breakfast dishes while Yuki went to sit down.

"_Itadakimasu_ – thanks for the food!" the three of them chanted together. After Yuki had taken what he wanted, Tohru doubled the amount on his plate, insisting over his protests that he needed to eat because today was an exciting day and he needed his strength.

"She's right, Yuki-kun," Kyoko said, smiling at her daughter's strong maternal instinct. Yuki continued to protest, half-heartedly, but Tohru just insisted all the more. Eventually, he gave in and began to eat before the food got cold.

Tohru wouldn't let him get up until he had cleaned his plate, even though Yuki complained he was full. Then she smiled brightly and took his plate to clean it.

By the time she had finished cleaning the breakfast dishes, Kyoko announced that they could leave for the school. Yuki, excited, grabbed his new school bag from its place by the door and started to make his way down the stairs. He had to go slowly, and be very careful, if he didn't want to fall and crack his head open. But Yuki didn't mind that he took five minutes for a flight of stairs. He was going to school today!

As per usual, Tohru and Kyoko were with him every step of the way. He was grateful that they didn't leave him, although he did occasionally worry that it annoyed them, having to go so slowly because of him. Tohru's affirmation the day before had largely erased that worry, but it flickered sometimes at the edges of his mind.

Normally, Tohru rode a school bus to Kawakami Elementary. Until Yuki could easily board with her, however, Kyoko had made sure she was working a later shift and was driving them to and from school.

Yuki smiled the whole way there. Despite his complete lack of memories, and many idiosyncrasies that made life anything but boring, he was beginning to have a normal life. A new life, completely separate from the one he'd had. He was going to school!

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Did you ever see a kid so excited for school? … Me either. __But it's a big thing for Yuki, apparently.__Brownie points to anyone who can tell me where the name Sukunami came from. Hint: It's an anime._


	4. They Deserved It

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the __Furuba__ characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.  
__**Author's Note: **__I don't think I've ever gotten so many reviews by the time I'd written three chapters! Well, maybe on __JoD__. Thank you so much, you guys! I'm really, really grateful.___

Poll: (Results may or may not affect story, but I'd still like your opinion) _Should__ I kill Kyoko and loosely follow the canon timeline, or keep her alive and create my own?_

_Quick translation: Sensei means 'teacher', __oba-chan__ means 'aunt'._

**Honda Yuk****i**

"You're in my class, Yuki-san," Tohru said. "And okaa-san used our last name to register you, since we don't know yours. You're my cousin, okay?"

"I'll remember," Yuki said. Kyoko had waved goodbye and was on her way to work as the two children mounted the stairs in front of the school. Yuki could feel his heart thumping with excitement. Tohru led him through the hallways, telling him about their teacher and which subjects she liked. They reached the classroom long before the first bell rang, and Tohru dragged him up to meet their teacher.

"Ri-sensei!" she said cheerfully. "This is my cousin, Yuki. He's the new student!"

"I look forward to being here," Yuki put in politely.

"And I look forward to having you," the young woman said, smiling. She had straight hair and dark eyes and a kind face. Yuki could see why Tohru liked her. "My my, what happened to you?"

"I got hit by a car," he said, and smiled at her stunned expression.

"A car!" exclaimed Ri-sensei. "I'm very glad you didn't get hurt worse, Yuki-kun!" The school bell rang and other children began to filter in. "Well, why don't you take a seat by Tohru-chan for today? She'll help you if you need it."

"_Hai_, I will!" chirped Tohru. "Come on, Yuki-san!"

She led Yuki to her desk and pointed him to the free one beside it.

"Okay, class! We have a new student today! Please meet Honda Yuki, everybody – no, Yuki, don't stand, it's alright. I expect everyone to make Yuki-kun feel welcome, okay?"

"Yes, Ri-sensei," chanted the general student body.

"Excellent! Now then, who wants to start the reading for today…?"

Yuki noticed around lunch time that he and Tohru seemed to be the only ones who paid any attention, and their every thought was focused on what Ri-sensei was saying. The rest seemed… well… comatose. The first and second lessons passed quickly. Another bell rang, startling everybody awake. Yuki jumped a foot out of his chair.

Tohru giggled. "It's time for recess, now, Yuki-san! We can go out to the playground."

Yuki blinked. He took his crutches from where they rested beside his desk and followed Tohru out the door. They were the last ones out. With a wild cheer, the other students had practically stampeded and were gone before the bell had even finished ringing.

"What's wrong, Tohru?" Yuki asked. The girl, though she smiled as always, seemed apprehensive about leading him out to the playground.

"Well… it's just…" She gnawed her lower lip, worried. "It's nothing, Yuki-san." Her smiled gently discouraged continuation of the topic, but Yuki wasn't just going to let her get away with that!

"I'll tickle you if you don't tell me," he threatened. She gasped.

"You wouldn't!"

"Wanna bet?"

Tohru hesitated. "It's just… well… there are some boys who tease me at recess sometimes… I don't want them to pick on you, too."

Yuki blinked. "Have you told… oba-chan?" Tohru blushed. "You haven't had you? Tohru, you know that oba-chan would - "

"I hate to worry her," Tohru protested. "I can handle it, I really can!"

Yuki sighed. Despite her everlasting politeness, Tohru was one of the most stubborn people he knew. Well, the category of 'people he knew' was limited to Tohru, Ri-sensei, Dr Sukunami, and Kyoko, so that wasn't actually saying very much…

"I usually sit over here," Tohru said, pointing to a secluded area in the shade of a few smallish trees.

"What do you do all recess?" Yuki asked.

"Not much," Tohru admitted sadly.

Yuki frowned. "Well, I'll stick with you now, so we can talk or something."

Tohru beamed.

They had been sitting for perhaps five minutes when four older boys, maybe even sixth graders, came up. Tohru looked terrified.

"Well, well, well," smirked the biggest and stupidest-looking. "Seems little Tohru has a boyfriend!"

"I'm her cousin," Yuki said stiffly.

The leader gave a bark of laughter. "Cousin! That's rich. I bet you're her lover. Probably slee – "

"If you finish that sentence," Yuki cut in, "I will be forced to kill you where you stand."

Though he spoke relatively calmly, inside Yuki was seething. How _dare_ they pick on Tohru! What had she ever done to them, or to anyone?! Nothing!

"You? Kill us? I'd like to see you try!" laughed one of the other boys. He stepped forward and kicked Yuki in the stomach. Tohru gasped.

"Yuki-san!" She moved to help him.

"_Daijobu__ – _I'm alright, Tohru," he wheezed. Grabbing his crutches, Yuki hauled himself upright. "I can take you all," he sneered at the bullies.

One of them deftly kicked the bottom of his crutch so that it slid out from under him. Yuki quickly shifted his balance to the other, but miscalculated and ended up sprawled out on the ground while the bullies laughed. Again, Tohru attempted to move forward and help. Again, Yuki waved her away. The leader sauntered forward and picked up both of the crutches.

"What now?" he taunted. "You can get up and fight us now!"

"I can so," Yuki snapped. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself to his feet, putting his weight equally on each foot. It didn't hurt nearly as much as he expected, though his legs were not used to supporting his weight and trembled.

Tohru gasped.

The bullies looked surprised, as well.

Yuki had watched a show on TV sometime in the last month on something called muscle memory. He understood that it was something that your body could do without your thinking about it. But it had never occurred to him that any actions of his could be helped along by muscle memory from before the amnesia he had.

As he stood there, preparing to fight in Tohru's defense, he experienced muscle memory. His body automatically fell into a decent martial arts posture. He stored away the thought that he'd most likely had at least some training before he lost his memories.

Glaring at the bullies, he waited for them to come at him. Once their surprise wore off, they smirked, then laughed, then ran toward him. One aimed a sloppy punch toward his head. For a split second, Yuki imagined that he had bright orange hair, instead of dark brown, and red eyes instead of black. But when he moved to dodge the punch, the sensation disappeared.

Another boy threw a punch at his right side. Yuki tried to lift his arm to bat it away, but with his cast the block ended up more like a punch of his own. His wrist struck the other boy's, and the bully yelped when the plaster hit.

Yuki was surprised to find that he was actually quite calm about this whole fight, and that he was able to ignore the growing aches in his leg and arm. Obviously, though, muscle memory alone wasn't good enough to save him from everything. He received a fair number of blows, as well. But it wasn't long before the older boys realized they hadn't won as easily as they were used to. They turned and ran.

"Sissies!" Yuki yelled after them. "Wimps! Don't ever pick on Tohru and me again!"

"Yu-Yuki-san!" gasped Tohru. "That was so – so – that was amazing! But we have to tell the supervisor that they started the fight, or you'll get in trouble!" She touched his face gingerly. "You're already getting a bruise," she clucked, sounding very like Kyoko.

"I don't mind," Yuki said, and he found that he didn't. But there were tears in Tohru's eyes.

"_Gomen_! I'm sorry. You didn't have to fight them. I could have handled it…"

"Hey," Yuki said, awkwardly. He had never learned how to deal with Tohru when she cried, although she cried a lot for various reasons. "It's alright. It's just a couple bruises, that's all. And they were picking on you!"

"Still…"

"HONDA!"

Yuki froze. The recess supervisor was stalking over, seething, with the four bullies behind him. Automatically, he stepped in front of Tohru.

"Your first day and you're already getting into fights – fighting unfairly, no less, can't even fight with honor-" The supervisor ranted. Yuki bristled.

"I was defending Tohru! That's all! They're the ones who attacked!"

"And you're the one who tricked them and beat them up! Now, apologize to these poor boys. Formally!" The supervisor's glare dared Yuki to refuse.

Yuki took him up on that dare and opened his mouth to protest, but Tohru slipped her hand into his.

He bowed stiffly. "_Gomen__ nasai_," he ground out. "I'm very sorry."

The bullies smirked and snickered. Yuki squeezed Tohru's hand tightly.

"That's better. Now go to the office."

"What?!"

"You initiated the fight – "

"I didn't! I swear I didn't!"

" – and the punishment for fighting on school grounds is to be sent home. I realize that you're a new student, but if we make one exception we'll have to make a million."

Yuki opened his mouth to argue that _they_ had obviously fought too (where did the supervisor _think_ Yuki's bruises had come from?!) but his legs were starting to hurt really badly, and he just sighed in defeat.

"Honda-chan, you stay out here," the supervisor said. "You've done nothing wrong."

"H- Hai," Tohru mumbled. She handed Yuki his crutches and walked with him to the school door.

* * *

"Getting sent home on your first day, huh?" Kyoko asked on the car ride home. "School not as great as you thought it would be?" 

Ashamed of himself, Yuki slouched down in his seat. Kyoko glanced in the rearview mirror.

"That bad, huh?" He looked at her sadly. "Hey, cheer up! Stuff happens all the time. Tell you what – when Tohru gets home, we'll all go out for ice cream. That'll be fun, ne?"

He sighed and nodded dutifully. Kyoko was silent the rest of the trip. Once they were back in the apartment, though, and they were working on patching Yuki up, she once again attempted to start a conversation.

"So, wanna tell me what happened?"

Yuki opened a band-aid and stuck it on his arm, where he had scraped it when he fell. After a moment, he said, "I'm sorry. I got into a fight."

Kyoko blinked. "And you lost, I suspect?"

"I won."

"You won! What did the other guy look like when you were done?"

"Not just one guy. Four. Sixth graders, I think."

"What?! Yuki! You got into a fight with four kids older than you?! Hold still," she added, pouring peroxide on a cotton ball and grabbing his chin. "You've got a scrape across your cheek."

"They deserved it!" Yuki snapped. "They were saying bad things about Tohru!" He flinched away from the antiseptic. "That stings!"

"Good, it's supposed to. Even if they were picking on Tohru, you shouldn't automatically resort to violence. Remember the old saying? Violence is not the answer."

"No," Yuki agreed. "Violence is the question. Unless the question is 'what to do with people who pick on my friends', and then violence is a good answer."

"Smart-aleck!" Kyoko admonished. But she was laughing. After a few seconds, she said, "Yuki, please try not to get into any more fights. Next time someone bullies you, tell a teacher. They're there to help you. Okay?"

"Okay," he said. "Are you mad at me for fighting?"

"No. You're a boy. Boys and fighting are practically synonymous, and you were provoked." She looked at him gravely. "That doesn't mean I _won't_ get mad if it happens again. Got it?"

"Got it!"

Kyoko smiled and ruffled his hair. Yuki smiled back at her.

"Atta boy! Alright, we'll put some ice on that black eye of yours and the swelling will go down. Come on."

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__To those who think Yuki is __OoC__: No, he's not. He doesn't remember being tormented by __Akito__ or rejected by his family, and he's spent all of his memory in a loving and supportive environment. I think canon-Yuki had the potential to be loud, protective, and sometimes violent. I'm just bringing that potential out._


	5. Just Tell Me Already

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**  
Author's Note: **__This chapter had only one thing I wanted to accomplish... it's kind of awkward.__ Also, I've been extremely anxious to write this part, so it kind of jumps around. There's lots of time that I don't detail._

**Honda Yuk****i**

Tohru burst through the door that afternoon and immediately tried to hug her friend. He dodged.

"Sorry," Tohru mumbled, rubbing her wet eyes. "I forgot that you don't like hugs, Yuki-san."

"What's wrong, Tohru?"

"I just – I'm really sad that you got sent home because you defended me! You really didn't have to – they always go away after a while – "

"Tohru," Yuki cut in. "It's fine. I don't mind. I promise not to get sent home anymore, but I won't let them pick on you. You didn't do anything to them."

"But – but – "

"No buts! Smile."

Tohru rubbed her tears away and smiled, though it was not as bright as usual. "I _am_ very sorry, Yuki-san."

"Alright, you two!" Kyoko, who had only just caught up with her daughter, cut in. "Enough moping – let's go out for ice cream!"

Sorrow of any sort, Yuki discovered, cannot stand up to the promise of frozen treats.

* * *

As they all sat licking their various flavors of ice cream, Yuki lightly touched his chest. He had grown quite used to the warm tingle of affection that had taken up permanent residence there, but at times it was strong enough to catch him by surprise. Times like now. He smiled and lowered his hand again. 

"Tohru-chan, it's like this," Kyoko clucked, taking the pencil from Tohru's hand and making a few notes on the math homework she was attempting to complete. "See? When two numbers multiply to make more than ten, you write the ten digit over the next column. It's just like in addition."

Curious, Yuki scooted closer to Tohru. "Why do you have to do that?" he asked, peering at the paper.

"Because when you multiply two numbers together, and they have more than one digit, you add at the end," Kyoko explained. "And if you don't carry the ten digit, then you come out with a mess when you get to the addition part."

"Oh." Yuki licked his ice cream cone again.

"I brought your homework home, too, Yuki-san," Tohru said. She blushed a little. "I forgot to mention it before."

He smiled. "Thanks."

"It's in my bag, at home. I'm sorry! I should have thought to bring it."

"Don't worry about it Tohru, I can do it when we get back."

"Are you going to pay attention now, or do I have to take your ice cream away?" Kyoko threatened playfully.

"I'll listen! Sorry, okaa-san!" Tohru turned back. Kyoko began to explain how to do the next problem.

Yuki listened, as well. He was in school, now, and that meant he had to learn things like this. Besides, it was interesting.

Another half-hour passed, with ice cream and Tohru's math homework, before they went home for the day.

* * *

The next day, at school, Yuki made a point to say absolutely nothing to anyone except Tohru. At recess that day, he made sure that he and Tohru were in full view of at least twenty other kids. When the sixth grade bullies showed up, there were twenty witnesses who could claim that Yuki was, in fact, not fighting at all and the older students had been picking on _him_. So he managed to get through the school day without being sent home. 

Each day, school got a little bit easier for him to deal with. Kyoko told him that he was just adjusting to a new experience. He did his homework with Tohru every night, and helped her when she needed it.

A few days after starting school, the bullies figured out that they could no longer pick on Tohru without Yuki interfering – though that didn't stop them throwing insults from afar – and largely moved on to other targets. Still, Yuki refused to speak to any of the other children. This earned him a solid reputation as standoffish and arrogant. He made no friends. But that didn't matter; Tohru was the only friend he needed.

In class, Yuki eagerly participated, and Ri-sensei often had to ask him to let other students answer occasionally. He often heard some of the students call him a teacher's pet. He ignored them. He liked to learn, that was all. And if he knew the answer, why not give it?

* * *

Two weeks after starting school, Yuki paid another visit to Dr Sukunami to have his other leg cast removed, and be rid of the crutches. Though his legs were weak and shaky after not holding his weight for a month and a half, Yuki refused to rely on anything other than his own power, once he was physically able. Kyoko was ready to veto this decision ("I _won't_ have you falling down the stairs if you suddenly get weak!"), but Dr Sukunami stopped her. 

"It's a good idea for him to walk on his own now," he said. "Otherwise, his legs will only get weaker. Keep the crutches, just in case, but he needs to walk for the most part."

Kyoko couldn't argue with the doctor's order.

They had a small party that night to celebrate Yuki's mobility.

Though his legs had only been fractured, and had only needed a short time to heal, his arm had been well and truly broken. The bone had been practically shattered. The cast there wouldn't come off for another few months, at the least, and it was doubtful whether it would ever have the same mobility again – his elbow had been hurt, as well. Yuki didn't mind, though. He could write well enough with his left hand, and he couldn't remember ever being able to fully use both of his hands anyway.

* * *

The twenty-eighty of November welcomed a dramatic change in the atmosphere of the Honda's apartment. Yuki could feel it as soon as he woke up. Normally, everything was bright and cheerful. Now, it felt heavy and … not oppressive, exactly, but certainly anxious. Breakfast was almost silent, which had never happened before. Tohru kept glancing at her mother. Yuki looked at her, too. 

"What's going on?" he asked. "Everything feels different today."

Kyoko was slow to swallow her mouthful of rice. When she had, she said simply, "We'll talk about it at dinner tonight, okay? You two are leaving for school soon."

Yuki frowned. "Is it a bad thing? Did I do something wrong?"

Kyoko smiled. "Of course not. It's not a bad thing at all. We'll talk about it tonight, okay?"

Unsatisfied, Yuki looked to Tohru for answers. She avoided his gaze, but there was a small smile on her lips.

School that day was pure torture. The lessons themselves were no worse than usual, but anticipation and curiosity about whatever it was that Kyoko and Tohru were hiding from him made the day unbearably long. He badgered Tohru, but she would only say, "_Gomen! _I'm sorry! I can't tell you."

And so Yuki was left to wonder what was in store for him that night.

That night, as soon as everyone had food on their plate, Yuki burst out, "Okay, it's dinner. What's wrong?"

Kyoko grinned at his anxiousness. "Wouldn't you prefer to wait until after dinner?"

Yuki groaned and dropped his head on the table. "I've been dying to know all day! Just tell me already!"

All laughter died from Kyoko's eyes. She was more serious than Yuki had ever seen her. Tohru scooped more rice into her bowl, not noticing that said bowl was already overflowing.

"Alright, Yuki-kun." She paused, as though nervous. But what did she have to be nervous about? "You've been staying with us – with Tohru and me – for exactly two months now, and I can hardly remembered what this little place was like when it was just Tohru and me. And since no one knows who your real family is… I'd like to adopt you, Yuki."

Yuki's mouth dropped open. Tohru continued to absently serve herself rice. Now she was missing her bowl entirely and amassing a nice pile on the tabletop.

"R- really?" he managed to squeak finally.

"I won't if you don't want me to," Kyoko said. "But I've got the paperwork – it's all filled out, except for your signature… and…"

"You don't have to," Yuki interrupted quietly.

"I love you like I love Tohru, and I would love to be able to call you my son. And Tohru-chan would love to call you her brother. Right, Tohru?"

"That's right!" Tohru affirmed. Then she realized what she had been doing. "Oh no! Look at the mess I've made! I'll clean it up!" She hurried from the room.

Kyoko smiled fondly at her.

Yuki was overwhelmed. He knew almost nothing of family. He had no memories of his own. But Kyoko and Tohru wanted him as part of theirs. He felt happy tears in his eyes.

"Thank you," he said, wiping the tears away. "I'd love to call you my mom."

Kyoko beamed. Everything strange about the day seemed to vanish, leaving the usual easy, carefree atmosphere in its place. "Let's help Tohru clean up, ne? Then we can have dinner."

Laughing, Yuki ran after Tohru to get a damp cloth.

They filed the paperwork the next day, a Sunday. Yuki was proud that he was officially part of a family. He was officially Honda Yuki.


	6. The Red Butterfly

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.  
__**Author's Note: **__If you'll remember, Uo-chan swears a lot when she's a kid. I hate swearing, as a general rule, but that is conflicting with the need to keep her in character. In the end, the in-character bit won – but since it's physically impossible for me to type out a swear word… well, I censored them. It looks stupid, and I'm sorry.  
Also, Sohmas in this chapter! Yaaay Sohmas!  
_

**Honda Yuk****i**

Years passed, as they have a tendency of doing. The world turned. Things changed. Details were forgotten and lost forever. Details such as the grade Tohru got on her fourth grade English test that one time, or the day Yuki came home covered in obvious signs that he had been fighting again. Details such as the names and faces of those who had picked on Tohru, before her brother had been there to stand up for her – details such as the fact that Yuki was not her blood brother at all.

To the Honda family, Yuki was not adopted. He did not guide Tohru, his sister, home after she had gotten lost. He did not run from Kyoko, a stranger, after telling her his life story. They did not bring him home after he lost his memories in a car crash – at least, they did not bring him home as a stranger, with no last name and no knowledge of himself. No, he was born to Honda Katsuya and Kyoko, Tohru's slightly older twin brother – so what if he looked nothing like either of them?

The important things remained in their memories, though. Things like birthday parties together, and celebrating the New Year. Things like Yuki's getting his _shodan_, his first-degree black belt, shortly after entering junior high, and Tohru getting a perfect score on all of her end-of-year sixth grade exams.

Years passed, as they have a tendency of doing. The world turned. Things changed. Yuki and Tohru, both seventh graders now, had become inseparable, and neither felt any separation from their mother, as is normal for teenagers.

And here the story resumes.

* * *

"Tohru, let me carry some!" Yuki said again. Tohru, carrying a stack of folders higher than her head, just smiled. 

"I can handle it, onii-chan!" she insisted again.

"But you can't see where you're – Tohru, look out!"

Yuki's warning came too late. Tohru collided with a girl that had just entered from a side hallway, knocking them both down and causing Tohru to spill the folders, and their contents, everywhere.

"Oh no!" she cried, dismayed. "Oh – I'm very sorry – the papers! Ahhh…!"

"Please forgive her," Yuki said to the girl, who was glaring daggers at both of them. She had wild eyes, long hair, and a fierce scowl across her face. But Yuki continued, "Tohru can be such a klutz sometimes." He bowed and then held out a hand to help her up. She ignored his hand and stood up on her own.

"I don't have time for this," she snarled.

"Ah – please don't step on those!" Tohru squeaked as the girl stormed away. She paid no mind however, and even purposely trod on some of the papers as she passed.

"Hey!" Yuki snapped. "She asked you not to step on them."

"I don't care if she asked or not, pretty boy!" the girl snarled over her shoulder. She stomped down the hallway, fury hanging almost tangibly around her.

"Pretty boy?" Yuki muttered, insulted. Tohru scrambled around gathering papers. "Here, Tohru – you run ahead and tell Sensei we might take a while. I'll get these all sorted out."

Tohru looked at him tearfully. "But – but – "

"It's no trouble."

"H-hai," Tohru sniffed. She hurried down the hall, leaving Yuki to gather the spilled papers and put them in order again. He sighed. The things he got himself into…

Yuki and Tohru were walking home after school that day when they next saw the girl. She looked positively livid, but also strangely curious.

"Hey." Her voice was rough, but kinder than it had been earlier. "I heard you two were called Honda. You the Red Butterfly's kids?" She scowled, as if daring them to tell her that they were.

Tohru laughed. "Yes! That's okaa-san!"

"Red Butterfly?" Yuki asked quietly.

"Onii-chan!" Tohru swatted him gently. "You couldn't have forgotten! That was okaa-san's name when she was in her gang."

"Kaa-chan was in a gang?!"

"I can't believe this!" The girl threw up her hands. "The Red Butterfly's kids are a pretty boy and a sissy girl!"

"Do you want to meet okaa-san?" Tohru asked innocently, her hand on Yuki's arm to keep him from getting angry at the name calling.

"Tohru! You shouldn't invite strangers over without kaa-chan knowing!"

"She'll be home by now! She won't mind, onii-chan!"

Yuki could tell that he wasn't going to win this fight.

"Please come home with us, uh…"

"Uotani," the girl said shortly.

"Please come home with us, Uotani-san!" Tohru finished.

Yuki could see the debate in Uotani's eyes. She obviously did not like people; and the way she was dressed suggested that she was a member of one of the gangs that lurked here and there. A Yankee. Still, she obviously admired this Red Butterfly – _And if that's kaa-chan, _Yuki thought, _then of course she'd want to meet her._

Eventually, Uotani nodded sharply and fell into step behind Tohru and Yuki.

"Pretty boy," Yuki heard her mutter scathingly.

"Yankee," he replied in an equally poisonous tone. Tohru chattered, oblivious to the short exchange.

* * *

"Okaa-san! We brought someone who wants to meet you!" Tohru called, taking off her shoes. 

"Tohru brought her, I had nothing to do with it!" Yuki added, kicking his own off.

"Come in! I'm hanging up the laundry," Kyoko called from towards the back of the house.

"I'll be doing my homework."

Tohru frowned at Yuki, clearly telling him to be more polite. "Come this way, please, Uotani-san!" She led Uotani through the house while Yuki made a bee-line for his room.

Later, he heard yelling. Uotani was shouting. Yuki groaned and pushed away his unfinished math homework. He wouldn't be able to do it with so much noise. A few words caught his attention. Curious, he listened.

"… and the Red Butterfly is _cool_ and _tough!_ She's my fricken' _hero_! You're nothing like her! I don't know what the he-- happened, but you're not the Butterfly – you're some go-da--ed _fricken' doting mother!_"

Ringing silence. Yuki slipped out of his room and found Tohru hovering near the living room door. Kyoko and Uotani were alone inside. She put a finger to her lips, frowning, and Yuki nodded.

To their surprise, Kyoko laughed. "What happened to me happens to everyone eventually, Uotani-san," she said lightly. "I grew up. I fell in love. And I wouldn't give up my life for anything. I would say I'm sorry for being different than you thought I would be – but, well, I have no regrets."

The siblings exchanged a glance. Wasn't that just like Kyoko? She was always calm, no matter what, and honest as well.

There was silence again, and tension radiating through the door. Kyoko began to hum softly, as she always did when hanging up the wash. Uotani swore explosively. Yuki glanced at Tohru and she nodded. He smiled. Being a twin had definite perks – they knew each other as well as they knew themselves, or better.

"Uh – dinner is ready," Tohru called shyly.

"Will you stay and eat with us, Uo-chan?" Kyoko asked.

"Uo-chan?!"

"You're name is Uotani, right? So, Uo-chan."

"Please stay and eat with us, Uo-chan!" chirped Tohru.

"Yeah, Tohru's a great cook, Uo-chan!" Yuki added. She clearly hated the nickname, and if it annoyed her he'd make sure to use it.

Uotani refused, loudly and with half of her sentence made from swear words. Yuki was secretly impressed by her vocabulary. She stood and stormed out of the room, shoving Yuki and Tohru out of her way, ignoring Tohru's polite, hesitant comments.

Yuki glared after her. Good riddance, as far as he was concerned. With any luck, they'd never see Uotani again.

Fate cackled evilly. She had other things in mind once again.

* * *

"WHERE IS HE?!" Crash. Bang. Splintered glass flew everywhere, and dust from the newly shattered vase rose in a cloud. 

He lifted a hand to shield his eyes. "Akito-sama, in all likelihood, Yuki is dea – "

"HE'S NOT DEAD!" screamed the kimono-clad teenager. "He's not dead, and you will find him!"

"Akito-sama, please, just think about it rationally for – "

"Dragon!" Akito seethed. "You listen to me! There have been ten Sohma children since Yuki disappeared – ten! None of them is the Rat! Yuki is alive and I want him back!"

Hatori bowed his head. There was no arguing with Akito when he was angry. Though it was true that there _had_ been numerous children born into the family in the last few years, the chances of Yuki being alive were miniscule, almost nonexistent. They had heard nothing in four long years. Not a peep of anything unusual. Surely he could not have avoided transforming for four years! But he could not voice these things to Akito. It just wouldn't work.

"I want him back," Akito repeated quietly. Hatori flinched. The quiet voices were always the most dangerous. "You will get him back."

"Yes, Akito-sama," Hatori murmured. He stood and exited the bedroom. As soon as the door was shut, there was the sound of another vase striking it. The Dragon sighed. If Yuki _was_ alive… where could he be?

Little did he know just how close Yuki was.


	7. I'm Suffocating

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the __Furuba__ characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**Author's Note: **__Imoto__ is the title for younger sister. I don't like Yuki using it for __Tohru__ because I use it with my little sister. And I don't like my little sister, so over time it's come to sound derogatory to my ears…_

**Honda Yuk****i**

"So what, exactly, are you making that you need so much tofu?"

"I don't know yet! It's always good to have lots of tofu on hand, though. You never know what you might need it for."

"Yes, but… ten pounds of it?!"

Tohru giggled. "Sorry, onii-chan. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, not at all," Yuki replied, with only a _little_ bit of sarcasm. He shifted the shopping bags that weighted down each of his arms.

Tohru smiled, obviously oblivious to his sarcasm. They continued to walk home in companionable silence. The only sounds were the rustlings of the plastic bags and fast, distant footsteps. Yuki glanced at his sister, but she didn't seem to notice. He shrugged. Whatever was happening, it wasn't his concern – probably a highschool race, or something.

Tohru skipped out in front of him, her braids bobbing against her shoulders. She turned a corner and yelped as someone crashed into her. Yuki dropped the bags of tofu and hurried over.

"Uotani!"

Uotani swore under her breath and looked around anxiously, picking herself off the ground. She was covered in bruises and scrapes, and her mask was askew.

Shouting filtered down the street. "Where did she go? She can't have gotten away!" Uotani tensed.

"Tohru," Yuki said after a slight pause. Tohru's head jerked up. "Take Uo-chan home, 'kay? I'll take care of whoever's looking for her."

"Ah – uh – but –" Tohru stuttered, still in shock from the collision.

"Imoto," Yuki said firmly, using a title that he rarely ever bothered with. That snapped Tohru out of it. She shot to her feet.

"Hai!" Tohru grabbed Uotani's wrist and set off at a dead sprint, pulling Uotani along behind her. All traces of her independent, angry attitude was gone; she followed Tohru willingly, occasionally glancing over her shoulder. Yuki leaned against the wall and waited.

Within a minute, three Yankee girls sprinted up.

"You! Pretty boy!" barked one. Yuki gritted his teeth. He wasn't _that_ pretty!

"What?"

"You seen a girl running past here?"

"Uotani? Yeah, she was here not too long ago."

The Yankees looked hungry and predatory. "Which way did she go?"

"Well, that depends. Why do you want to know?"

"We've got some unfinished business with her," the leader snarled.

"The bruises, I suppose? Three on one is hardly fair. Tell you what – I'll take you on, all three of you at once. If I win, you go home and stop chasing Uotani."

The leader looked him up and down. Yuki knew he was small and skinny, but they didn't know that he was well on his way to earning his _nidan_the second degree black belt. That in itself wasn't saying so much, but even a _shodan_ inspired respect in people who didn't practice martial arts.

"You've got a deal, pretty boy."

Needless to say, the fight was fairly quick. They surrounded him and ganged up on him – or would have, anyway. That seemed to be their only tactic. All he had to do was avoid being encircled.

Within moments, Yuki had won the fight. "I think we had a deal," he said with satisfaction. "And if you'll excuse me, I need to get my tofu home before it goes bad." With that, he retrieved the bags of tofu and started home, wincing at the knowledge that he would be reprimanded when he got home. Fighting again! And fighting girls, too…

* * *

When he got home, Uotani was still there. She had been patched up and was now curled up on one end of the couch, looking miserable. Tohru was in the kitchen making dinner.

"_Tadaima_" Yuki called. "I'm back! And I brought the tofu."

"_Okaeri__!"_ Tohru called over her shoulder. "Will you put it in the fridge, please?"

Yuki nodded and arranged the tofu inside the refrigerator. "Need any help?" he asked Tohru.

"No, I'm okay!"

"Is kaa-chan home yet?"

"She's still at work. I think she'll be home in half an hour or so."

"Okay. I'm gonna go keep Uo-chan company. She's a guest, even if I don't like her."

Tohru beamed at him. He smiled back, a little hesitantly, and then went to sit on the couch, as far away as he could from Uotani.

"Everything okay?"

"I'm suffocating."

Yuki blinked. That was an answer he hadn't expected. And her voice seemed flat and dead, not at all her normal tone.

"The… the… the air in this house. I can't breathe. There's something here…" She shuddered.

"I know the feeling," Yuki said, reclining against the arm of the couch. She looked sharply at him, eyes blazing. "When I was in third grade, I got in the way of a car. It hit me, I got a bad concussion, and to this day I can't remember anything from before the crash. Most of what I know of my childhood comes from what kaa-chan tells us.

"For a long time after that, I was really nervous. I didn't like to be touched, not even the littlest bit, and we're all really affectionate, so it was strange. I felt stifled sometimes, too. But it's really not suffocating. It's warm and comforting, like a blanket. Does that make sense?"

Uotani blinked at him again. "No," she said, turning away and resting her chin on her knees. "No sense at all."

He shrugged.

"I've never know this sort of atmosphere," she murmured. "My mom ran away with another man, and my dad's a drunk. He doesn't care. But if he did… if he waited for me to get home… I'd still tell him to drop dead. I'd yell things like 'you're not my father!' and 'I hate you'."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Yuki blinked. "Because he's your father, no matter what you tell him."

Uotani scowled. "You wouldn't understand, pretty boy. I'd rather my old man was dead."

She was right. Yuki had never known his father, but he knew that Katsuya was a kind and loving man. He couldn't even imagine what it was like to have an uncaring drunk for a dad.

"If you say so," he muttered.

"_Tadaima__!"_ Kyoko called from the doorway.

"Kaa-chan, _okaeri_" Yuki yelled back. He heard Tohru call her greeting at the same time.

Kyoko walked past, glanced into the room, and stopped. "Uo-chan is here?"

Uotani looked away and said nothing.

Kyoko tried again. "Are you staying for dinner tonight, Uo-chan?"

"Please do!" Tohru said from the kitchen.

"Yes, please do," Yuki said.

He watched Uotani stiffen, and her eyes go blank. "No," she replied robotically. "I have to go home."

She stood and got up to leave. Yuki put a hand on her shoulder. "We invited you here and got rid of those girls chasing you. Be polite for once in your life and stay for dinner."

Uotani tensed when he touched her. She bowed her head, clenched her fists, and he could hear the scowl in her voice. "Fine. I'll stay. Just this once."

Yuki grinned and removed his hand. Then he sniffed. "Tohru… is something burning?"

"Oh no! The fish!" squeaked Tohru, and sprinted back to the kitchen. "It's alright," she called a moment later. "Just a little bit… over-cooked. Sorry! I'll cook a new fish. I can't believe I forgot about it!"

"Don't make a new one, Tohru, it's okay," Yuki called back, going to make sure she hadn't worked herself into too much of a state.

* * *

Yuki couldn't figure out what, exactly, their relationship with Uotani Arisa could be called. They weren't enemies, exactly, but neither were they friends. She went out of her way to snipe at them. She had even started attending school just to make sure she could throw her insults more often! Every word that Yuki could think of had some flaw to it, something that made him discard it as a possible adjective.

He didn't really mind, though. She was probably ashamed that she had said so much about herself to him, and covering that up by acting cruel toward them.

He told Tohru that he shouldn't mind her, and she didn't. She was certain that Uo-chan was just having some trouble figuring out who she was.

Even with the insults, Yuki found it rather easy to ignore the fact that Uotani existed at all. For a while, at least.

* * *

Someone, Yuki reflected, or perhaps something, seemed bent on interfering with his life. What other explanation could there be for the rude awakening the Honda household received at nearly two in the morning that night? Someone was pounding on the door, loudly and urgently.

Yuki, from where he lay on his futon, heard Kyoko mumble sleepily to herself as she went to answer the door. Then, desperately, an unfamiliar voice. "It's Uotani – she tried to leave the gang – I don't know how to stop them! Please! You have to help Uotani, Butterfly! You have to help her! Please!"

Yuki was up instantly. He met Tohru in the hall and together they ran toward the front door. Kyoko was putting on a jacket, ready to leave, with a strange girl standing anxiously in the doorway.

"You two stay here," Kyoko said. "I'll be back in half an hour."

"I'm going too," Yuki protested. "I can –"

"Yuki," Kyoko repeated, glaring at him. "Stay here."

He wilted. "Yes, okaa-san."

Kyoko left, the strange girl running in front of her.

Yuki and Tohru were left to wait, sleeplessly, for Kyoko to return.

The silence was stifling. Tohru sat anxiously by the front window, peering out into the street. Yuki paced up and down the living room, trying without success to stop worrying. Needless to say, when Kyoko returned nearly an hour later, the siblings were ecstatic. And better yet, she had Uotani on her back, conscious and smiling. Tohru immediately began fussing over Uotani while Yuki went to fetch the first aid kit.

He had a feeling that he knew what their relationship with Uotani was, now. She was their friend.


	8. Bad Things Happen

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**  
Author's Note: **__Brownie points if you can guess what anime the name '__Seishuku__' is from. And sorry for taking longer than usual with this chapter – but I'm also sorry that the next one will probably take longer. We're moving this week… Not sure if I'll have computer access._

**Honda Yuk****i**

Uotani avoided them for a few days after that, but she started coming to school every day. Yuki and Tohru saw her often in the hallways and at lunch, and Tohru made sure to greet her every morning and every afternoon, at the least. Yuki was pretty sure that she was just having trouble figuring out the whole 'friendship' thing.

It really didn't help matters, he added mentally, that people still thought of her as a gang member.

Every day, Uotani became a little friendlier toward the two Honda children. At first, it was like they weren't even there. Then she would acknowledge Tohru's greetings with a little nod, her eyes on the ground. She started sitting at their lunch table, though she never spoke and ate quickly. She walked with more confidence, upright, eyes on the crowd of students, now, rather than the floor, and would glance at them when they passed.

After that, she started smiling, just barely at first but a little bit more ever day, at the usual morning "_Ohayou gozaimasu,_ Uo-chan!" and afternoon "We'll see you tomorrow, Uo-chan!" until, after about a week, her smile was large enough to easily be seen. She started speaking to them soon after that, one word mutters that very slowly formed into return greetings and lunchtime conversations.

She was like a puppy, Yuki mused. A puppy that had been beaten, and was afraid, but was slowly learning that they meant no harm.

Of course, Uotani's growing friendship with them started rumors around the school. Tohru was oblivious, as always, but Yuki couldn't help overhearing the mutters and whispers that followed them.

"… knew he was no good … always getting into fights …"

"... she's always such a nice girl … don't think … Uotani … corrupted her?"

"… seems logical … how else could … be friends?"

"What does she think … playing at? … just because … comes to school…"

"… agree! … still a … no-good Yankee."

But through the next months, Uotani continued to become more and more open toward them, and began to settle into a gang-free life. She talked more freely and, once, memorably, asked to hang out after school.

The three of them, laughing and talking, became a common sight around the school. The whispers slowly died down until it seemed just about everyone had accepted Uotani Arisa for who she was, and not who she had been.

That wasn't to say she had changed completely, though. She continued to retain some violent tendencies, but those had been largely channeled from random attacks into concentrated protectiveness. People knew better than to bother Tohru, now. If you teased or threatened her in any way, you were either very brave, or very stupid. After all, who in their right mind would go after a girl with two extremely protective body guards? If you managed to tease her and came back alive, you were more or less a legend by the next day.

For months, though, even after becoming friends with the Honda siblings, Uotani refused to come into contact with Kyoko. Yuki hadn't the faintest clue why – wasn't the Red Butterfly Uotani's hero, even if she wasn't exactly the Red Butterfly anymore?

But the facts remained what they were. If Kyoko showed up at school with a forgotten lunch bag or homework assignment, as she occasionally did, Uotani would mysteriously go missing, sometimes for as long as two hours.

But that, too, slowly dissolved with time, and by the beginning of eighth grade, just six months after Uotani quit her gang, it had vanished altogether.

* * *

"Tohru! Yuki!" called Uotani, running up to them as they walked through the front gates.

"_Ohayou gozaimasu, _Uo-chan!" Tohru called at the same time Yuki said, "_Ohayou!_"

"It's weird to be an eighth grader now, huh?" Uotani asked. "And there's a new student this year, did you know? I heard she was really scary."

"Scary? Scarier than you, Yankee?" teased Yuki.

"Scary in a different way, pretty boy."

"You two," Tohru giggled. "Always with the insults!"

"Yeah, but we love each other," Yuki and Uotani chorused, both grinning.

"Well, scary or not, we should welcome the new student," Yuki added. "Do you know what class she's in?"

"No idea. I think she might be in our class." Uotani toyed with a lock of hair that hung in her face. "But I'm not sure about that. I know she's in our grade."

"The bell's about to ring," Tohru said anxiously, pointing to her watch. "We should get inside."

"If she's not in our class, we'll see her at lunch anyway," agreed Yuki. The first bell rang. With a collective wince, they all ran inside.

They weren't late, but the bell rang just after Yuki had dropped into his seat. The teacher, Seishuku-sensei, gave everyone a few moments to settle down and get quiet before he moved to the front of the classroom.

"We have a new student today," he announced. "Hanajima, please come in."

A girl walked in from where she had been waiting in the hallway. No, Yuki amended. She didn't walk. She seemed to glide across the floor with steps so smooth it was hard to tell if her schools even touched the tiles. Her face was stony, her dark eyes staring blankly across the room. Her black hair was plaited in a neat braid to a point somewhere just past her shoulders. When she lifted a hand to brush her bangs away, Yuki could see the black polish on her nails.

She was scary, he admitted, but only because she was so blank and devoid of emotion, like a stone statue.

The dark girl came to a stop by Seishuku-sensei and turned to face the class, her bag held in front of her with both hands.

"Please introduce yourself."

Hanajima bowed slightly.

"I am Hanajima Saki. I am a new student here," she recited. Her voice was soft and even, almost monotone. Yuki, like the rest of the class, waited for her to say more. But she was silent, her lips drawn into a tight line. Her eyes were downcast and she stood, unmoving, at the front of the room.

Eventually, Seishuku-sensei broke the tense silence by clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Yes, well, we look forward to having you in our class. It looks like there's an empty seat over by Honda-kun. Honda-kun, raise your hand please."

Yuki put his hand in the air. Hanajima's blank eyes fixed on him and then flickered over to the empty desk beside him. She drifted over, her footsteps light and barely audible in the silent classroom. She sat down neatly, arranged her skirt over her knees, and situated her bag beside the desk. Then she folded her hands on the desk's surface and returned her blank gaze to Seishuku-sensei.

Seishuku-sensei cleared his throat again. "Yes, well," he repeated. "Now that Hanajima is settles, we can begin our lesson…"

* * *

"So the new girl is in our class after all," said Uotani at the lunch table later. She lounged in her chair, hands behind her head. "She _is_ pretty scary, isn't she?"

"No scarier than you."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Be serious, pretty boy."

Yuki planted his elbow on the table and rested his cheek on his hand. "I don't think she's trying to be scary," he said. "I think she's sad and doesn't really want to show it – or doesn't know how."

"Sad?"

"Yeah. Didn't you see it? She looked sad. The way she kept herself so tightly controlled and wouldn't look at anyone."

"Look – Tohru just did something nice for her. Big surprise there, ne?" Uotani pointed to the lunch line, where Tohru was on duty. Yuki peered over and saw his sister smiling at Hanajima. The new student looked slightly confused.

"We should invite her to sit with us," Yuki said, still watching as Hanajima made her lonely way around the lunchroom. "I think she could use a couple friends. Go talk to her."

"What, you too scared to get near her?"

"Yeah, you'd love that, wouldn't you?" Yuki snorted. "I'm not scared. I kept trying to talk to her in class. I think she's annoyed with me by now."

"You keep telling yourself that." Yuki scowled at her smug tone.

"I don't _do_ scared," he reminded her. "Especially not for a kid at school. Go ask her to sit with us. You can work on your diplomacy."

"I don't _do_ diplomacy," she echoed, mocking him. But she stood and crossed the lunchroom, making a beeline for Hanajima. Hanajima stopped wandering when Uotani got close and stared as the taller girl crossed her arms and began talking. She looked away and said something, then turned. Uotani put a hand on her shoulder, finished whatever she had been saying, and practically dragged her back over.

"You're going to sit with us," Yuki heard Uotani explain as they got closer. "I hate it when new kids try and sit by themselves."

Hanajima gazed between Uotani and Yuki for a moment and then sat down. She murmured a quick '_itadakimasu_' and began to eat with small, neat bites. She had the same lonely, restrained look that she had had in the classroom. He shoveled a huge clump of the sticky rice into his mouth, just to make himself feel better about her tiny bites.

"Tohru! Hey! Over here," Uotani called, waving to Tohru. Tohru, with her own lunch, hurried over.

"Oh! Hanajima-san is sitting with us today?" she asked pleasantly.

"Uo-chan dragged her over – "

"But it was Yuki-chan, here, who suggested it."

"Yuki-chan!" he huffed, glaring at Uotani.

Hanajima said nothing, but her eyes moved back and forth between Yuki and Tohru.

"We're twins," Yuki told her. When her eyebrows drew together, he added, "Yes, we know we look nothing alike. But we're definitely twins."

"Please sit and eat with us, Hanajima-san!" Tohru chirped, even though Hanajima was already sitting _and_ eating.

"Hanajima… hm… Hanajima…"

"What's wrong, Yankee?"

"If Kyoko were here… hm.. Hanajima…" She paused, tapped her chin with one finger, and continued, "If Kyoko were here, you would be… Hana-chan!"

"Oh! Yes! Hana-chan!" Tohru was, of course, delighted. Hanajima suddenly went stiff, her eyes wide.

"I'm sorry," she said in her soft, almost-but-not-quite monotone voice. She stood and picked up her tray. "I have no intention of eating with you. Bad things happen to people who are around me."

"Bad things happen…? Come to think of it, I think bad things happen to people who are around me, too…" said Tohru, dropping her head in shame.

"Well, more bad things must come from me than you, Tohru," Yuki snickered.

"And twice as many from me as the two of you combined!" completed Uotani.

"Yes! You're right!" Tohru's head shot up and she clenched her fist, her expression of overpowering determination planted firmly on her face. "The four of us should all strive to be better people and make more good things happen around us!"

"I wasn't kidding," Hanajima said firmly. Yuki thought, for a moment, that he heard anger in her voice. "I'm not a good person. You'll get hurt if you're around me."

"Look," Yuki told her, just as firmly. "You're new here. You haven't heard all the stories about the three of us. Sit down and eat with us. We're not afraid of getting hurt, any of us."

"There's people willing to sit with you, the weather's great, it's a new school, and there's good food in front of us," Uotani added. "Let's not waste it arguing over who's going to get hurt and who's not."

Hanajima hesitated, and then sat. "You people are weird," she murmured.

"We get that a lot!" the other three said in perfect unison. With a laugh, they all settled down to eat.


	9. My Punishment

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**Author's Note:**____Guess __who's__ back! __I'm REALLY sorry – this chapter is really short, and it took me longer than I'm comfortable with to write… Things have been hectic, and I felt bad about making you guys wait longer. –__blush__- I swear that the next chapter will be up faster, and it'll be longer to make up for this one!_

_**Honda Yuk****i**_

Why was it, Yuki wondered, that everyone he and Tohru tried to defend were messed up and defensive? Uotani had been a gang member and had hated them for months. Hanajima was introverted and, yes, a little bit creepy until you got used to her. And she refused to speak to them, refused to so much as glance their way. She continued to sit at their table, but only because there were no other seats available. But she sat as far from them as she could, her eyes locked firmly on her food, despite the never-ending conversation directed her way.

"Where did you transfer from, Hana-chan?" Uotani asked. "Must've been pretty far away, yeah?"

Hanajima gave no indication that she heard.

"Why do you paint your fingernails black?" was Tohru's question. Then she blushed. "It's not that it doesn't suit you – it looks very nice – but wouldn't it be nice to paint them blue, or purple, or pink?"

"Pink would be good for you, Tohru, but black is best for Hana-chan," snorted Yuki.

"And you would know, wouldn't you, pretty boy? I bet you do Tohru's nails all the time, and let her do yours, too."

Yuki laughed. "I may look girly, but I've never worn nail polish." He struck a pose. "Besides, I'm _very_ masculine, see?"

"Hah! Not with _that_ pose."

Tohru giggled quietly. She hated fighting of any sort, but she knew that Uotani and Yuki argued playfully. If they didn't argue, they'd get so mad at each other that they'd never be able to stand each other.

Still, Hanajima ignored them all.

She seemed to disappear after the last bell of the day. Yuki watched her stand and walk to the door, but she always slipped into the crowd and, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't spot her after that.

Once, though, by chance, he and Tohru saw her walking to the school gates on their way home. "See you tomorrow, Hana-chan!" Tohru called to her. Yuki watched, fully expecting to be ignored.

But Hanajima responded. She looked up in surprise at Tohru, stopped walking, and just stared. A second later, however, she lowered her head as though nothing had happened and continued walking. Tohru was especially cheerful on the way home that day.

* * *

"… and she never talks to us, never opens up at all! She won't even acknowledge that we're there!" Yuki complained to his mother later that night. "What can we do to show we're just trying to be friends?" 

Kyoko was an attentive listener to every problem her children had, and could usually supply helpful advice. This time, however, all she could do was shrug. "Keep doing what you're doing, Yuki. Keep trying to get her to open up, like you did with Uotani. It'll work if you give it enough time. Lots of people are very much closed off when they transfer to a new school."

"I think it's more than that," Yuki mused, resting his cheek on the heel of his hand. "First day, at lunch, she told us to stay away from her because bad things happen to people she hangs out with."

"Just keep doing what you're doing, kiddo. I know you. You and Tohru both have a gift of loosening people up."

"Yeah… Thanks. I'm going to bed. _Oyasumi_. Good night, kaa-chan."

"_Oyasumi nasai_. Night, Yuki."

* * *

Hanajima, hard as they all tried, remained completely closed off to Yuki, Tohru, and Uotani. She continued to ignore them until, almost three months into the school year, Yuki exclaimed in complete exasperation, "What's your problem?! Why won't you let us be friends?!" 

And Hanajima looked up, straight at him, her eyes blazing and her gaze sharp. She had not looked directly at him – at any of them – since the day when Tohru had greeted her after school. When she spoke, her voice was the same quiet, even monotone that she used when answering the teacher's questions.

"This is my punishment," she murmured. "Since there is no evidence by which to convict me, I must take measures to ensure my punishment, and the safety of others."

Then, without another word of explanation, she picked up her tray and left.

Yuki groaned in frustration and beat his head on the table.

"Girls," he proclaimed, and not for the first time, "are weird."

The statement earned in a giggle from Tohru and a soft slap to the back of the head, courtesy of Uotani.

He wondered what she had meant with her answer. Later that day, he got his answer.

"… talked to a boy at Hanajima Saki's old school. Friend of my cousin," one girl whispered to another.

Yuki, on his way to class, paused to listen. He bent and pretended to tie his shoe so that it wouldn't be obvious he was eavesdropping.

"Yeah? What did he tell you?"

"The girl's a witch. That's why she wears black. She was always cursing people. Lots of people broke bones – one boy nearly _died_. She's abnormal – does it all with her mind."

The second girl gasped. Yuki's eyes widened.

"She curses people for the fun of it?!"

"That's what he told me."

"We'd better stay well clear…"

They continued to talk, but Yuki stood hastily and almost sprinted away. Things made more sense now. Hanajima had _powers_. Strange, frightening powers. And she had transferred. She always looked sad. Always wore black, as if in mourning. And she had said that no there was no evidence to convict her.

She had done something by accident to the boy in her old school, and deeply regretted it. She had transferred here, for some reason, but continued to ostracize herself so that no one could get hurt by accident.

Yuki decided that he didn't like that _at all_. She was sorry for whatever had happened. That was good enough. It was done. It was past.

But how could he get her to see that?

He decided to talk to Tohru. And if she had no ideas, Kyoko could tell him what to do.


	10. Recognition

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**  
Author's Note:**____I bought the Fan Book "__Neko__" the other day – __it's __sooo__ great, and I totally recommend you buy it! It's pricey, but totally worth it. –__hearts__- Trust me, you will not regret it._

**Honda Yuk****i**

"Just talk to her," was Kyoko's suggestion when Yuki mentioned his problem at breakfast the next morning. Tohru had been so shocked that '_kind, quiet_ Hana-chan' put curses on people that she had dropped her rice bowl and was currently at the table with a bottle of glue, trying desperately to repair the broken pottery. "I think you're right. She's scared of what she can do, and probably that she'll do it again. Tell her that no one's perfect. Heck, invite her here and I'll talk to her if you want."

Yuki smiled. "Thanks, kaa-chan. I'll do that."

Kyoko smiled fondly, finished her rice, and took her dishes into the kitchen. She came back, asked Tohru if she needed any help repairing the bowl, and was soundly assured that Tohru could manage it on her own. Then Kyoko announced that she had to leave or be late for work. Tohru hugged her mother.

"Have a nice day, kaa-chan. Come home safe."

"You too, kids." And with a smile, Kyoko went to work.

On the walk to school that morning, Yuki told Tohru about his idea. "If Uo-chan says it's okay, we can tell Hana-chan about how she was in a gang, and really hated us. And kaa-chan said we could invite her home so that Hana-chan could talk to her, too."

Tohru was nodding. "Because she doesn't like what she did, ne? And it will show her that other people do things they don't like, too." She gently bumped her shoulder against Yuki's. "And you can tell her about all the fights you get into!"

"But I'm not ashamed of fighting!" Yuki protested. "Why should I be? I only fight when you're being spacey and almost let someone beat you up."

Tohru just smiled.

* * *

The first thing to do, obviously, was confront Hanajima – just to make sure he had his facts straight.

She instantly snapped from _He-Doesn't-Exist_ mode to _Glare-At-Him-Till-He-Dies_ mode.

"Where did you hear that?" she snapped. Yuki was taken aback. He had known her for months, and she had never used anything other than that soft, detached voice. She had never really sounded interested in the goings-on. Now she was.

"I heard some girls talking. It's true, then?"

Hanajima's eyes seemed to fade. They grew dull. She was regaining her control and withdrawing into her shell. "My sins are my own," she murmured, "but you should not believe every rumor you hear."

Then she left.

Yuki sighed in frustration.

He kept trying. Uotani, who had largely given up, thought him crazy. Tohru giggled to herself and let him be.

* * *

Hanajima was opening up, slowly, to Yuki. She was wary of him, of his sister, and of their rough-speaking friend. But she was opening up to Yuki. And that scared her. She tried to pull away again, but he persisted in being her friend.

It was such a slow process that she didn't even realize it herself, at first. Two weeks went by before she noticed it with a shock. She had listened to the boy when he spoke, taken his words to heart. She had _thought of removing the black polish from her nails_ – unthinkable. She had stopped pretending he didn't exist. The biggest thing, however, was that – even though she _tried _to go back to ignoring him – she found that she _wanted_ to be his friend. His, and his sister's, and Uotani's as well.

But she didn't show it.

She didn't know how.

And she was scared to learn.

Something had changed. He wasn't sure what, but something had changed. With Hanajima, that is. She didn't seem quite as distant. Oh, she seldom looked at him, and never in the eye – she spoke rarely, and only scant words here and there. But she didn't seem as distant now.

Yuki grinned at that thought.

She was sitting across from him, now, at the lunch table, as she always did.

"Hana-chan, do you want to hang out after school? With us, I mean?"

She ducked her head a little bit and chewed the end of her chopsticks. Yuki watched her, but he didn't expect an answer.

She nodded.

His jaw dropped open.

"Wait – you mean – you're actually - ?" he stuttered.

"You're eloquence amazes me," drawled Uotani. "She said she would, yeah?"

Hanajima took another bite of rice as though nothing had happened. But Yuki was beaming, and continued to beam throughout the day.

* * *

"Yuuuuukiiiii… Yuukiiii… Wake up! Geez, pretty boy, what's up with you? Class is over! It's _been_ over for ten minutes! Get your butt up and let's get out of here!"

"What? Uh, sorry."

"What's wrong, Onii-chan?" Tohru asked innocently. Yuki shook his head and glanced around. Hanajima was standing in a corner, looking extremely unsure of what to do with herself.

"Nothing, Tohru!" he replied quickly, throwing his things into his school bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "C'mon, let's go." He tossed another look at Hanajima as Uotani led the charge from the classroom. She was following shyly, walking with her usual light steps, now somewhat hurried to keep up with her companions.

"So, what should we do first? How about a good prank? We haven't pulled one of those in a while. Hey, Yankee, remember that time we dyed Myojuan-sensei's hair blue?"

Myojuan-sensei was an aging teacher that had taught their homeroom in seventh grade. He had a bald patch in the center of his head and stringy white hair. Yuki and Uotani had poured blue dye into a little bit of water in a bucket, and then balanced it above the door. It had been hours before Myojuan-sensei realized that it wasn't just water that had been dumped on him.

Uotani snickered at the memory. "That was great! Ah, good times."

Tohru sighed. She had thought the joke very mean indeed, and had told her brother and best friend so by ignoring them for a week. Or, at least, that had been her resolve. She had lasted ten minutes.

Hanajima looked vaguely curious, but held her tongue.

"Or the time when we kept telling Chou-sensei that we heard ghosts?" Uotani laughed.

"She was paranoid for weeks after that!" snorted Yuki.

A few more mentioned pranks piqued Hanajima's curiosity enough that she asked for the story behind the Sensei-He's-Bleeding incident (in which Uotani had covered some poor boy in stage blood, sufficiently distracting the teacher and letting everyone else leave without being noticed for the rest of the day). The afternoon was pleasantly passed, with the four of them strolling aimlessly around and laughing at tales of tomfooleries.

Once, Yuki stopped and squinted across the street. There was a strange boy there, with fluffy white hair on the top of his head and closely cropped black hair on the back. The boy was staring around blankly, and caught Yuki's eye by accident. They stared at each other for a while, both boys shocked, but for different reasons. Yuki was filled with a strange feeling, overwhelming him. Recognition. He had never seen the boy in his life, but the sense of familiarity was so strong…

"Yuki, are you coming or not?"

"I'm coming!"

He broke eye contact with the boy and hurried to catch up with Tohru, Uotani, and Hanajima. He put the boy out of his mind and soon had forgotten all about him. There was no way he recognized the strange boy.

But even if Yuki didn't know their connection, Hatsuharu did. And he was so shocked that, for a full five minutes, he even had trouble breathing – he had seen Yuki. Yuki was _alive_.

He had to tell Ayame. The snake would be so happy to hear that Yuki was alright. He had sorely regretted that he hadn't had a chance to reconcile with his little brother. Hatsuharu smiled, and then bit his lip. If he told Ayame, he'd have to tell Akito. He looked at Yuki and his friends, three unusual-looking girls. He was laughing and smiling with them. He couldn't remember Yuki ever smiling like that before. Hatsuharu frowned. Yuki was happy. That was enough for him. He wouldn't tell anyone what he'd seen.

In fact, he'd forget that he had ever seen Yuki. That way no one would ever force it out of him.

* * *

"_Okaeri._ You two are home late – everything okay?" Kyoko spoke casually, but Tohru and Yuki exchanged a glance. They knew their mother well enough to know that she had been frantic.

"We were hanging out with Uo-chan and Hana-chan," Tohru explained cheerfully. "We had so much fun!"

Kyoko smiled. "It sounds like she's starting to open up, ne?"

"Not really," Yuki pouted, dropping onto the couch beside his mother. "But also yeah, sort of…"

Kyoko ruffled Yuki's hair, making him cry out with indignation. "Well, it's time for dinner now, and then baths and bed. I know for a fact that you _both_ have a quiz tomorrow! There's instant ramen in the cabinet – something quick and easy."

"I'll go boil the water!" Tohru volunteered, eagerly rushing to the kitchen.

Yuki smiled after her, his head so full of worries and plans for Hanajima, and fondness for his family, that there was no room for any thoughts of the strange boy he'd seen.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **More brownie point opportunities - what animes do the names Myojuan and Chou come from?  
_


	11. We Love You

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**  
Author's Note:**____First off – brownie points to TwilightAmythest! The names Myojuan and Chou come from Fushigi Yuugi! Actually, all the names I've been using do. Chichiri's real name is Ri Houjun (_Ri_-sensei), Hotohori is Seishuku Saihitei (_Seishuku_-sensei) Mistukake is Myojuan, and Nuriko is Chou Ryuuen. Looks like I have to find a different anime to exploit!__  
Also… I love making up insults for Uo-chan and Yuki to throw at each other. n-n; _

**Honda Yuk****i**

Hanajima, as Uotani had, became steadily more friendly towards them – though she had a different way of showing it. She was still as withdrawn and soft-spoken as ever, but what words she did use held a new warmth and familiarity. She began spending time with the three every day after school.

Yuki winced as he remembered The Incident at lunch, just yesterday. Gossip had been running rampant about Hanajima's apparent powers, and the havoc that had caused her to transfer. A boy in their grade – Yuki knew his name, but could never remember it – had finally plucked up the courage to confront them.

"Hey, Hanajima, I heard that you were a delinquent at your old school. You almost killed a boy! You're a freak!" he had sneered coldly.

Hanajima had stiffened, then stood and walked swiftly away. Tohru ran after her, Uotani and Yuki on her heels.

Hanajima was halfway to the school gates when they finally managed to catch her.

"Hana-chan, stop!"

"I must'nt!" Hanajima had said, more loudly than Yuki had ever heard her speak. "He's right, I am a freak – it's true that someone nearly died, and it was my fault – You should stay away from me. I'm dangerous!" Her eyes had flashed with fear, and her hands had been held out to hold them at bay. Yuki was shocked by the tears that had sparkled in her eyes.

But Tohru had run forward and embraced her. "It wasn't your fault. We don't care if you have powers. We don't care," the girl had murmured, her own tears trickling down her cheeks.

"Yeah, that's garbage! We've been hanging out with you for months, and not a one of us is hurt! Whoever he was, if you lost control that bad, he deserved it!" Uotani had oh-so-sensitively added.

"What she means," Yuki translated, "is that you should make your own decisions. You shouldn't let a mistake in the past decide your whole future for you, and we know that you would never, ever hurt someone on purpose."

"Unless they _really_ deserved it," Uotani added.

Yuki elbowed her but continued, "And I don't think that you should live your life at a distance. We're such good friends now – are you really willing to give that up and be alone your entire life? That's no sort of existence. Everyone needs to someone they can rely on."

Tohru, he remembered with a grin, had looked shocked that he could be so profound.

Hanajima had been visibly shaking. She broke down. Huge tears rolled down her cheeks. She threw her arms around Torhu, saying, "You're right. I don't want to be alone! I want to be your friend!"

"Aww!" cooed Uotani. "I'm feeling sappy now – let's do a group hug!" She slung her arms around Tohru and Hanajima, and tried to drag Yuki in, as well. Yuki shied away – even after so much time, he still avoided hugs without any good reason.

"We _love_ you, Hana-chan," Tohru had whispered. "And we aren't ever going to let you leave."

* * *

"YO, pretty boy! Stop daydreaming!" Something collided hard with his shoulder and, flailing his arms wildly, Yuki slid off his chair and crashed ungracefully to the ground.

There were soft snickers.

"That hurt, Yankee!" scowled Yuki. "I wasn't daydreaming!"

"No? Could have fooled me. You were sitting there with that blank, day-dreamy smile on your face."

Yuki decided that he would not honor her with a reply. Instead, with as much dignity as he could muster (there was more suppressed laughter), he picked himself up and sat down again. Tohru was biting her knuckled to keep from laughing, her cheeks flushed from the effort, and even Hanajima was smiling.

"I was _not_ daydreaming," he proclaimed again, for the benefit of posterity, and crossed his arms stubbornly.

"If it pleases you," Hanajima murmured soothingly, touching Uotani's arm just as the blonde looked ready to make another comment.

Of course, since The Incident yesterday, rumors had been circulating more quickly than Yuki could have imagined. They, of course, kept to themselves what had truly happened – but some of the versions Yuki had heard made him shudder. They were all making valiant efforts to ignore the gossip, knowing that it would die down. Eventually. Maybe... Hopefully.

"So, who wants to have a party at our place tonight?" Yuki suggested. "Kaa-chan suggested it. She said she hadn't seen you, Uo-chan, in a while, and she hasn't met Hana-chan at all."

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Uotani perked up. "It's been way too long since we all got together! I'm in!" The three of them looked expectantly at Hanajima.

"I do not believe that my coming shall be a problem," she mused. Tohru squealed and hugged her tightly.

"Tohru, don't choke her!" Yuki cried in alarm when, after only a few seconds, Hanajima's face began to take on a faint bluish tinge.

Tohru retreated, spewing apologies.

* * *

"So, this is Hana-chan, ne?" Kyoko asked, inspecting their new friend. The former Butterfly put her hands on her hips and grinned. "It's great to finally meet you!" She hugged Hanajima (the girl stiffened, but did not protest. She was getting slowly used to hugs) and added to Torhu, "There's rice in the rice cooker, and spices in the cabinet if you want to make _onigiri_."

"That's a good idea! Onigiri are a good party food!"

Tohru had vanished into the kitchen while they were busy blinking.

"I'll help," Yuki called, and tried to follow her. Tohru blocked the door, already wearing an apron.

"Onii-chan," she scolded. "You know you're not allowed to cook."

"But I really think I can do it this time! I just have to try harder!"

Tohru remained firm in her resolve, no matter how Yuki wheedled her. He eventually gave up. Upon returning to the living room, he found Uotani and Kyoko hiding their laugher behind their hands. Hanajima just looked confused.

"And what," Yuki asked with great dignity, "is so funny?"

"Sorry, Yuki," chortled Kyoko. "Tohru is right – no cooking for you."

"I'm not that bad!"

"Says the boy who burnt a salad!"

Blushing with embarrassment, Yuki collapsed onto the couch. "It still tasted fine," he mumbled in a last-ditch effort to preserve his pride.

"And I suppose you spent that night vomiting into the toilet because it tasted so good?"

Yuki gave up; there was no way he'd be able to win now.

"I need some male friends," he grumbled instead.

It wouldn't have been out of place for Uotani and Kyoko to slap hands. Kyoko took the back seat while Uotani took her turn to insult him.

"That's impossible, pretty boy. You're so effeminate already that no self-respecting boy would ever befriend you."

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "You used some pretty big words there, Yankee. Be careful. Your brain is probably so tired now that it'll give out if you push it anymore."

"You're talking from experience again, aren't you?"

"Alright, you two," reprimanded Kyoko.

"Who, us?" Uotani and Yuki chimed immediately, turning wide and innocent eyes on Kyoko.

Kyoko tried to look stern, but it was only a few second before her resolve broke. Tohru was lured from the kitchen by laughter; even Hanajima was smiling.

When they had calmed down a bit, Kyoko looked to Hanajima.

"I'm sorry, Hana-chan," she said solemnly. "You've chosen a bunch of weirdos for friends."

"Well, then, I guess I fit right in."

This, of course, set them all off again.

While the family bantered and laughed together, a boy in a different part of the city sat somberly in his room. Hatsuharu had tried to keep Yuki his secret. He had tried to forget; he honestly had. But it had been two weeks, and he just hadn't been able to keep it to himself. The chance meeting had been burned into his mind, and had been eating away at him. What could he have done, but tell someone?

He had told Kyo. Kyo was always a safe choice. He had secrets of his own, and didn't fear Akito as much as the others. Even if he had been afraid, Kyo seldom had contact with the Jyuunishi God. There was no chance that Kyo would give him away – not even if it _was_ Yuki.

Unfortunately, though it seems quiet and dead, the Sohma Estate is far from the safest place to hold confidential conversations. Hastuharu wasn't sure just who had told Akito what they were discussing, but both the _Neko_ and the _Ushi_ had been brought before the God within an hour. The confrontation had been an angry one, and Hatsuharu winced as he remembered the bruises that Kyo, in particular, had sustained. He touched his own cheek. It smarted under his fingertips.

But Hatsuharu smiled, as well. Even with Akito's threats and beatings, he hadn't given Yuki away. Kyo hadn't said even a word – hadn't made a sound, not even when Akito threw him to the ground. And Haru had just kept saying quietly, "You misheard. Yuki is dead." Over and over.

But Yuki wasn't dead. And now Kyo knew it, too.

* * *

_**Author's Notes:** Eat that, Turek. I didn't just _see_ the word posterity! I _used_ it! Nyah. -sticks tongue out- (Turek, my government teacher, insisted that the word posterity was a word that we would never, ever see anywhere besides the Declaration of Independence.)_


	12. I Hid Them Really Well

_**Disclaimer: **__No, I don't own the __Furuba__ characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.__**  
Author's Note:**____I had someone PM me and ask why I still call Uo-chan, __Hana-chan__, and Kyoko by their full names, now that we're familiar with them. Well, I couldn't call Uotani Uo-chan or __Arisa__ unless I was writing from Yuki's point of view; and while this is omniscient to him, it's still my point of view. As I'm not as familiar with them as he is, meaning they aren't my friends or my mother, I can't call them by familiar names. Sorry if that's confusing._

**Honda Yuk****i**

Later that school year, Yuki and Tohru turned fourteen. They – meaning the siblings, Uotani, Hanajima, and Kyoko – had a small party. Kyoko bought a cake (Tohru wanted to make one, but Kyoko insisted that there was just something wrong about making your own birthday cake) and they took a trip to the park.

There, Yuki encountered a strangely familiar boy.

He had seen this boy before. He knew that he had. In the street, once. It was just a glimpse, but – there was no way you could forget white hair like that.

This time, however, Yuki didn't just look at the boy. They crashed into each other.

"Sorry!" Yuki said, jerking back and falling to the ground.

"That's alright," the boy replied. His voice was very smooth and calm, and he smiled a little bit as he held out a hand to help Yuki up.

"Onii-chan! Are you alright?" Tohru cried, rushing over. Yuki took the boy's hand and the stranger helped him up.

"Fine, Tohru, I'm fine!" Yuki assured her.

"Be more careful, Yuki. It's rude to just run into people like that!"

"Yes, kaa-chan."

The stranger was still standing there, examining Yuki with a calculating expression. Yuki turned back to him, unnerved by his gaze. Then the white-haired boy smiled at him again, turned, and walked off. Yuki sighed.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't know. I feel like I should know that kid… but I've never met him before in my life." He stared after the boy for a moment longer before turning back to his family and friends, smiling. "But, hey, let's not stay here on account of my weird feelings. C'mon!"

And the party continued as though nothing had happened.

Yuki loved birthdays – his and Tohru's especially. There was something very happy and hopeful about the fact that you've managed to live another full year, even with all the crap in the world. Even though he was making sure to enjoy himself fully, this time he just couldn't get rid of the nagging worry about that white-haired boy.

* * *

The year, as the previous one had, finished quickly and happily. Before he knew it, Yuki was in ninth grade. He had passed his exams for both the nidan black belt and the sandan black belt, and had begun to work on his shidan. He was, of course, extremely happy about this, as it meant that he could kick the tail of anyone who messed with his sister – not that she needed a threatening older brother anymore, with Uotani and Hanajima around. Anyone who approached her had benign intentions… or else. 

Tohru, however, seemed oblivious to this. She continued as she always had, with a smile and a kind word to anyone who needed it. People knew that they could depend on her (and through her, Yuki, Uotani, and Hanajima) to get a job done.

* * *

Aizawa-sensei, their ninth grade homeroom teacher, was a young man with a nice smile and the crushee of just about every girl in the school. (Thankfully, Uotani, Hanajima, and Tohru seemed to be among the exceptions to this rule.) He was a strict and challenging teacher, but he gave praise where it was due and sometimes cracked jokes when you least expected them. 

Yuki did like school, make no mistake about that. What he didn't like was the part where you had to get up in the morning. He hated waking up. By a month into school, he was usually so sick of it that he seriously contemplated cutting class at least once a week. Not this year, though. A month came and passed and Yuki looked forward to getting to school each morning. With Aizawa-sensei as teacher, lessons were usually interesting and at least marginally effective.

Today was no different than any other. Except that the classroom phone rang, interrupting Aizawa-sensei's lesson. He quickly crossed the room and answered. He hardly said anything, but everyone in the room noticed how his expression turned grim. The students waited to know what was going on.

"Okay. I'll send them at once," Aizawa-sensei finally said, and hung up the phone. Then, turning to the class, he said, "Yuki-kun, Tohru-chan, you're needed in the office. Uotani-chan, Hanajima-chan, you might want to go, as well."

The class tittered. Confused, Yuki stood and left the room. His friends weren't far behind.

"Uh-oh. Looks like they found the bodies again, Yuki," Uotani said gravely. He knew she was nervous. None of them had done anything wrong, and never had all four of them been called to the office at the same time. Besides, she hadn't called him 'pretty boy' – that was always a sure sign that something was bothering her.

"They can't have," Yuki gasped. "I hid them really well this time, just like you said!"

There was some laughter, appreciating Yuki's attempted joke, but nothing could break the somber, nervous mood.

The walk was completed in silence, and the school secretary greeted them when they came in.

"Honda-kun, Honda-chan." A slight pause. "Uotani-san, Hanajima-san. I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"We haven't done anything wrong this time," Uotani protested. "You can't possibly punish us!"

"No, you're in no trouble! Honda Kyoko has just been put into the emergency room."

Shocked silence. Tohru whimpered and clung to Yuki's arm.

He felt numb. "What happened?"

"She was hit by a car."

Worse than feeling numb, now, he felt sick. I'm not going to pass out, he told himself sternly. And I'm not going to vomit.

"Is she… " he started apprehensively.

"She is in no danger of dying," Abarai-san assured them, "but her condition is serious."

"We're going to see her," Uotani said. Her voice leaving absolutely no room for argument. "We'll walk if we have to, but we're going to see her. Right now."

"Uo-chan… Yuki and Tohru aren't up to walking anywhere…" Hanajima murmured anxiously.

"I've called your parents, Hanajima. They agreed to drive you all."

Yuki's arm was starting to go numb, but he found that he really could care less. It reminded him of exactly what Tohru was going through. Often, over the years, Yuki had heard of the time when he had lost his memory. Of the awful feeling that both Tohru and Kyoko had had right after the accident, up until he was healed enough to take the casts off; the worry, guilt, grief. But he had never imagined that it could be this bad.

It was indescribably terrible. He felt weak and shaky, his heart pounding a mile a minute, his skin clammy with cold sweat, his stomach and chest burning hot but his hands and feet uncomfortably cold. His breath came in short bursts. If it was this bad for him, how did Tohru feel?

His attempts to banish his next thoughts – Oh, kami, what if kaa-chan doesn't remember us?! – were in vain.

Minutes later, Yuki found himself sitting alongside Tohru and Uotani in the back of Hanajima-san's car, with Hanajima in the passenger seat. And, after that, running as quickly as he could – heedless of shouts to slow down, both from his friends and assorted hospital staff – toward Kyoko's room. Tohru was right behind him, despite her usual wariness of any rule-breaking.

The sight of their mother laying on the hospital bed was enough to knock away what little breath they had. "Okaa-san!" Tohru cried, and rushed to the bed in perfect step with her brother. Their hands were clasped tightly, and Yuki could feel Tohru's fingernails digging into his palm, but he didn't care.

When she slept, Kyoko snored and thrashed around in bed. It was not uncommon for her to wake up on the floor, in fact. She always had a loud, boisterous, and independent attitude – but that was gone now. The woman on the bed was as still as death, her arms by her sides, her breathing shallow. One arm was hooked up to an IV drip. Her head had bandages wrapped around it and her cheeks were pale under the hospital lights.

He was vaguely aware that Uotani, Hanajima, and Hanajima-san had entered.

"I think I'm going to be sick," proclaimed Uotani, her voice tight and drawn.

"Yuki, Tohru, why don't you come sit down?" Hanajima-san suggested kindly. Yuki blinked at his friend's mother.

"Yeah," he muttered. "I think I might collapse otherwise. C'mon, Tohru…" Gently tugging her hand, he dragged the unresponsive girl over to a couple of chairs.

A doctor came in, accompanied by a few nurses. They checked Kyoko and then turned to her visitors. What followed was a solemn recitation of injuries – a minor contusion, but they had drained it and there should be no lasting damage. A concussion that should result in, at most, permanent partial loss of mobility and balance. Badly shattered ribs, which they were monitoring carefully to make sure that no internal organs were harmed. Badly broken bones which should be fine in a few years, but until then might give her some trouble. Extensive, but not permanent, muscle damage.

The worst thing was that she was currently in a coma. And they had no idea when she would wake up – or if she would wake up at all.

The last sentence shattered the last of Yuki's control. Tears began to roll down his cheeks. He was soon reduced to a sobbing wreck curled up in the hospital chair.

* * *

It was decided that, for the time being, Yuki and Tohru would stay with Hanajima and her family. Uotani and Tohru protested, halfheartedly, that they didn't have to; one of them could stay with Uotani and her father, since it was only the two of them. Hanajima-san wouldn't have it. 

"It would be cruel," she insisted, "of anyone to separate the two of you now, no matter the amount of time."

Yuki was grateful. He didn't want to be away from Tohru for a second longer than was absolutely necessary.

He still felt horrible, constantly weak and generally ill, through the next days. Everyone seemed to want to avoid the subject, saying that he and Tohru were only staying with Hanajima's family for a little while, like a sleepover. Yuki went along with this, but he knew that they were staying until Kyoko woke up. It might be months or years before that happened.

If it ever did.


	13. Pa! Shu!

**_Disclaimer: _**_No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.**  
Author's Note: **Just wanted to say - thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and added my story to their alerts! You guys are so great! -sob- I don't think the story would have made it this far without your encouragement, but now I'll see it to the end! _

**Honda Yuk****i**

It had been seven days since Yuki and his friends had been called out of school because of Kyoko.

On the first day, neither Yuki nor Tohru went to school. They just felt too awful.

On the second day, in the morning, the boys at school had taunted Yuki, wanting to know what he had been caught at this time, and how come it was so bad that even Tohru got called to the office? And why weren't they at school yesterday – had they gotten suspended? He had taken it until lunch time, when, despite the fortification of his friends, Yuki had snapped, "My mother is in a coma!" and added a few well-chosen expletives, just to be on the safe side. Then he had sprinted from the cafeteria, hoping to hide the tears that sparkled in his eyes.

After that, they didn't get taunts anymore. But the pity was worse.

On the third day, the girls at school decided to gang up on the friends, cooing their condolences and offering to make paper cranes for her. By the end of the day, whenever they saw someone folding paper, Yuki would get so angry that it took the combined efforts of Uotani and Hanajima to hold him back.

"Let me go! I'm going to kick her – " and here he used some words that would get him grounded for a week, should Kyoko have heard him.

But she couldn't have grounded him anyway.

On the fourth day, Yuki came to school seething. Everyone stayed well clear of him, save Tohru, who held his hand throughout the entire day, even temporarily switching her seat during class to do so. Uotani and Hanajima were never more than ten feet away, during lessons, and outside of lessons about two feet.

On the fifth day, Tohru collapsed in tears while Aizawa-sensei was lecturing about how to add and subtract binomials, and Yuki was allowed to sit with her in the hallway until she calmed down. It wasn't long before Yuki was crying, too.

On the sixth day, it was Sunday, and Megumi's birthday. Yuki and Tohru tried to put on smiles for Hanajima's little brother, but it was hard. Eventually, both Megumi and Hanajima told them to stop faking smiles. It only made the internal crying louder.

They excused themselves from the party shortly after.

Every day, after school, or in the afternoon, Hanajima-san had picked up Uotani and taken them all to see Kyoko.

And now it was the seventh day. And Yuki was sitting by Kyoko's bed, holding her warm hand, growing angrier and angrier by the minute as he looked at her.

"Kaa-chan," he whispered to her. His voice trembled with fury. "If you die from this, I swear that I will hate you for the rest of my life." Though quiet, his words were poisonously vehement, and Tohru – the only one close enough to have heard him – gasped.

"Onii-chan," she whispered back to him, sadly and fearfully, "you couldn't really hate kaa-chan, could you?"

Yuki looked at his sister and nodded sharply. "If she dies and leaves us, I'll hate her forever."

A choking laugh greeted this comment. "Well now," said Kyoko's rusting, raspy voice. Instantly, the siblings looked at her. Kyoko's eyes were closed, but she was smiling and speaking. "I think I might have to ground you for that, Yuki. Hating your own mother?"

"Okaa-chan!" Tohru and Yuki cried at the same time, leaping to their feet. Uotani, Hanajima, and Hanajima-san rushed over.

"Ow – don't yell, it hurts my head… where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, Butterfly."

"Ah, Uo-chan is here, too? What happened?"

"You were hit by a car, kaa-chan."

"What?!" Kyoko's eyes were instantly open. Directly above her was a bright fluorescent light. She groaned and closed her eyes again. "Ow. When was this?"

"A week ago."

"Hm, Hana-chan is here, too. Quite the party. Alright, then. Tohru?"

"Hai?"

"From now on, be doubly careful when you cross the street. I don't want to be part of a family where everyone has been hit by a car, okay? Two is bad enough."

There was some laughter, nearly hysterical with relief. Kyoko was awake, and her sense of humor was working just fine. How could she _not_ recover?

* * *

The next morning, Yuki was in a better mood than he had been for a week, and everyone in the school noticed. He had gained as fierce a reputation as Uotani and Hanajima, though. No one dared approach him until the very end of the day, when a tiny girl, looking extremely nervous, asked why he was so happy today. Well, actually, she said, "ExcusemebutcanIaskwhyyouaren'tangryonlyeveryoneiswonderingandIreallywanttoknowbutohifyou'restillmadpleasedon'tbothertoanswer!" 

Yuki had taken a moment to figure out what, exactly, she had said. While he was doing this, he also took the time to admire her lung capacity. "Kaa-chan's not in a coma anymore," he told her simply, and then grinned and ran to catch up with his friends.

By the next day, it was all around the school that Honda-san was going to be alright. There were some versions that had Yuki heroically rescuing her from the brink of death. Yuki laughed at these. He laughed very loudly, for a long time, and got yelled at in class for giggling too loudly.

He got more than a few odd looks over the course of that day, most of them from Tohru and Uotani, and quite a few people came up to the friends to exclaim about how happy they were.

"They're just happy because there's less chance of pretty boy, here, beating them to a pulp," Uotani snorted at lunch, and took a particularly vicious bite of onigiri.

Yuki and Tohru exchanged grins.

* * *

Every afternoon was still spent in Kyoko's hospital room, but no longer were they all in a somber mood. It was more like a party, with everyone laughing and talking together. Kyoko, as the doctor had said, had some balance and coordination issues, and her memory could be fuzzy sometimes. Once, jokingly, she asked Yuki if she knew him – this resulted in a shocked look from her son and Tohru bursting into tears. Kyoko had apologized, saying of course she knew Yuki, and swearing never to do it again. 

Yuki and Tohru were still staying with the Hanajima family, but only for a week or so more. (By that time, Kyoko was sure to be out of the hospital and fully functioning again.)

At dinner one night, Hanajima suddenly stiffened. She gasped quietly, and conversation at the table stopped instantly.

"What's wrong, Saki-chan?" her mother asked in concern.

"The voices – I can't hear them anymore," Hanajima replied dazedly.

"That's wonderful!" gushed Tohru. "How? When?!"

"Just now… it was sort of like, I went 'pa!' and they went 'shu!'"

Yuki leaned toward Megumi, Hanajima's younger brother. "Did you understand that?" he muttered.

"Basically, she just got used to it," Megumi translated calmly, nibbling on a rice cake.

"Oh. That makes sense. But why didn't she just say it?"

Megumi shrugged.

Yuki went back to his food. His mother was awake, his family was as close as could be, his friends were great and overcoming their struggles one by one. How could life get any better than this?


	14. Meow, Kitty!

**_Disclaimer: _**No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.**  
Author's Note:**Another extremely rushed chapter in which I skip around a ton. Sorry, guys. Maybe I should, like, make a timeline or something… Hmm…

**Honda Yuk****i**

"I _hate_ highschool exams," groaned Yuki, dropping onto to couch in the Honda family living room.

"But you're so smart, onii-chan!" Tohru protested.

"Yeah, but I don't like exams!"

Tohru smiled. "Even though you don't like exams, would you mind helping me study? I want to get into Kaibara with you."

"No matter what, if you pass you get into Kaibara. It's the only highschool close to here."

Yuki sat up straight and reached for Tohru's textbook. They had the classical Japanese exam tomorrow, and that was one of Tohru's worst subjects.

"Okay, Tohru, explain the proverb. _Healing comes from the soul_."

Tohru, as she always did when she was thinking hard, wrinkled her nose. "It means… medicine is useless?" She looked hopefully at him.

Yuki shook his head. "If you think that you're not going to get better, then you won't. But if you think that you _will_ get better, then you will. Make sense?"

"Oh… yes, I get it now…"

"_You can't see the forest for the trees_."

"Er… When you go into a forest, there's also bushes and shrubs and animals."

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

"So how did it go, guys?" Kyoko asked when they came home that night. 

It was February, eight months after Kyoko's car crash, and she was almost back to normal. Granted, she was clumsier than she had been, and sometimes complained that her legs hurt – but it was nothing beyond that.

"I did okay," Yuki shrugged.

"I don't think I did so good," Tohru whispered, ashamed of herself.

"There there, Tohru," clucked Kyoko, moving to hug her. "I'm sure you did just fine. After all, Yuki helped you study, yeah?"

"Yeah, Tohru, you knew everything pretty well last night! What did you get for thirty two?" Yuki asked.

"The one that read _junin toiro_?"

"That's the one."

"I put… 'everyone is different'… I think."

"Well, that's what I put, too. See? You did okay." He smiled confidently at her.

Tohru was reassured by this, and managed a small smile in return.

"I'm so proud of your two," Kyoko said, for only the thousandth time. "I never went to highschool – never even took the exams. It's a wonder I managed to graduate junior high. So – "

"Kaa-chan," Yuki said solemnly, "we'll make sure to get into highschool and have lots of fun for you." He grinned, and his mother and sister couldn't help but echo the expression.

"Yeah, I guess I have given that speech a lot lately, haven't I?"

The next hour was spent in total relaxation: just the three of them, sitting around, laughing and joking together.

* * *

"Now I will be handing out acceptance forms for those of you that took highschool entrance exams and passed," Aizawa-sensei said, smiling. He was holding a large bundle of big envelopes. These were passed out to individual students, about three-quarters of the class in all. 

It was March, now, and everyone was preparing for the end of school. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, this meant finding out who had gotten into which highschool.

Yuki noticed that he, Hanajima, Uotani, and Tohru had all gotten and envelope. But, he thought with a twinge of nervousness, just because they were accepted into _a_ highschool didn't mean they would be accepted into _Kaibara_ highschool – after all, Kaibara was prestigious, a great school. What if they weren't good enough…? Even though it was the only highschool within miles, they could still send him to a different, lesser one…

He shook away these thoughts and opened the envelope. Aizawa-sensei announced that, yes, he knew he would get nothing out of them for the rest of the day so they were free to talk until the bell rang and they could all go home.

His heart leapt up into his throat and Yuki inhaled hugely – he'd gotten into Kaibara!

He heard Tohru squeal and looked over at her. She beamed in return and he smiled, too. Quick glanced at Uotani and Hanajima showed that both of them were grinning, as well. With his friends around him, he was going to have a great time in highschool!

The next month passed in a blur. Before he knew it, Yuki was walking to school with Tohru, both of them wearing brand new Kaibara Highschool uniforms.

"Onii-chan, I'm so excited!" squeaked Tohru as they passed the school gates. Yuki was about to reply when he was distracted by yelling.

"YOU DARN RAT!"

He blinked. "Someone's mad."

Tohru nodded and glanced around to see who was being yelled at. Everyone else was glancing around, too.

"HEY! Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

A fist collided with the back of Yuki's head, sending sprawling to the ground. Tohru squealed. All of Yuki's martial arts training kicked in, and he sprang to his feet again.

"Who are you? That hurt!" he snapped angrily at the boy who was now standing in front of him. He had bright orange hair, like Kyoko's, and a sneer on his face. His canines looked very long and sharp. For some reason, Yuki thought he looked… like a cat. But that was silly. He didn't look anything like a cat, except for the piercing reddish eyes.

The boy smirked and crossed his arms. "Well, now. Maybe I've got the wrong guy if you couldn't even defend against _that_. What's your name?"

"Honda. Honda Yuki," he spat. This guy's attitude was really annoying. How could a stranger be so condescending?!

"Hmph! I've got the right guy. Darn rat – it looks like you need practice." He glanced Yuki up and down. "You're quite effeminate, aren't you?"

"Perhaps," Yuki said coolly, "but at least I don't wear jewelry." He glanced pointedly at the beaded bracelet on the boy's wrist and was gratified with an angry flush that appeared on his cheeks. "Who are _you_, then?"

"Sohma. Sohma Kyo." He sneered then, without warning, threw a punch at Yuki.

Yuki blocked. "Look, Sohma," he hissed. "I don't want to get expelled on the first day!"

Sohma smirked. "Sissy," he taunted, but withdrew his fist. "Someday, y'darn rat, we're gonna fight, me and you. And I am going to beat your butt so hard, your _grandchildren_ will hurt."

"That's a pretty big threat. Are you sure you're up to it?"

"Onii-chan, we have to meet Uo-chan and Hana-chan in class, remember?" Tohru put in shyly, glancing at Sohma anxiously.

"Onii-chan!" Sohma gave a bark of laughter. "The darn rat's a big brother! That's a good one!"

"Yeah, Tohru," Yuki said, glaring at Sohma. "I remember. Let's go."

"Run away, you darn rat!" Sohma yelled as they walked away. "Run away like the coward you are!"

Yuki gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, but he didn't say anything. Tohru slipped her hand into his.

"Onii-chan, I'm proud that you walked away from that boy," she whispered. "You would have gotten in trouble for certain otherwise. Why was he calling you a rat?"

"I haven't the faintest idea, Tohru," he replied, shaking his head.

Sohma was in a different class from Yuki, Tohru, Uotani, and Hanajima. After filling his friends in about the incident, Yuki forgot all about him. Until, at least, the end of the day.

* * *

Throughout junior high, the four of them had always walked to the train station, first, to see Hanajima onto the train, then to a park where Uotani branched off and went home. None of them saw any reason to break this tradition. 

Apparently, though, Sohma had other ideas.

For the second time that day, Yuki found himself sprawled on the ground courtesy Sohma's fist at the back of his head.

"School day's over and we're off school ground. Get up and fight me, rat!"

"I've got a name! My name's Yuki!"

"Hmph. Rat. Get up!"

"Onii-chan, just ignore him. Let's go."

"Hmm… I don't think Sohma-san will give up until Yuki fights him…" Hanajima mused, almost to herself.

"Sh'right! Get up!"

"Alright, fine!" Yuki snapped. "If you want to fight, let's fight!" He sprang to his feet and threw a punch at Sohma. Sohma easily dodged and returned with one of his own. On it went, with the two of them exchanging punches, kicks, dodges, and blocks until Yuki saw a slight opening in Sohma's defense. Problem was, to get to it he'd have to accept a punch.

Sohma's fist landed in his stomach, knocking the air out of him, but Yuki didn't have time to even wheeze. He brought his foot up and slammed it into Sohma's ribs, knocking him to the ground. The orange-haired boy skidded a good two feet on the concrete.

As Yuki gasped to get his air back, Sohma sat up.

"I win," Yuki said, lifting his chin arrogantly and returning Sohma's angry glare. He turned away. Tohru was watching him, her hands clasped in front of her mouth, her eyes wide. Uotani looked impressed and offered her congratulations on a good fight. Hanajima was, as always, placid. "Tohru… just so we're clear… he started it, didn't he?"

Tohru nodded.

"So you'll stick up for me when I tell kaa-chan I was fighting again?"

It wasn't long before they walked off, leaving Sohma on the pavement to nurse his stinging ribs and injured pride.


	15. Kyo chan

**Disclaimer: **No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.**  
Author's Note:**A lot of people reviewed! Wow! And most of you want to know why it took so long for Yuki to beat Kyo. Well, part of it is that Yuki isn't used to Kyo's style. Most of it, though… Yuki thought Kyo was another big-talking snot-nosed brat who thought he was so tough because, oh my gosh, he had a yellow belt in martial arts. (Well, I don't even take martial arts, so to me that sort of ::is:: a big deal, but still…) By the time he figured out that this wasn't the case, Kyo was confident that he could win and he wasn't about to let Yuki gain the upper hand. So, there you go. n-n;

Please see the bottom of my profile for information on exactly why I was so long in updating – and yes, I know you're angry with me and, yes, you do have every right.

**Honda Yuk****i**

Yuki did not get grounded for fighting. But it was a close thing.

"Yuki! I can't believe you – fighting on the _first day_ of highschool?! With a complete stranger?"

"Okaa-san, Sohma-san wanted to fight Yuki! Before school, Sohma-san punched onii-chan, and after school he wouldn't let us go until onii-chan fought him. It's not Yuki's fault this time!"

Kyoko stared, first at her daughter and then at her son. It had _always_ been Yuki that started fights. It was hard to believe there was a student more pugnacious than he.

"Oh," she said, deflating. "Well then. I suppose you aren't in trouble, Yuki. Sorry."

"It's okay, kaa-chan," Yuki said with a little smile. "It _is_ usually my fault."

"This Sohma character seems like an interesting boy. Tell me about him."

Tohru and Yuki recounted the day's events, and what had happened with Sohma. Kyoko grew very quiet, very pensive. But she didn't say anything, other than it was late and they should all get to bed. Recognizing the dismissal, the siblings stood and bid their mother good night. Tohru disappeared into her room, and Yuki into his. But though he could hear his sister climbing into bed, Yuki did not mimic her. After a few moments, he crept from the room and sat in the hall outside the living room, listening.

Kyoko was talking to herself. "My poor Kyo-chan," she sighed. "It sounds like you really do hate Yuki, doesn't it? I wish you would tell me why…"

Kyoko knew Sohma?! Yuki blinked in surprise. He waited a while more, but his mother said nothing else and he eventually went to bed.

* * *

The next morning, Yuki was able to forget his strange revelation until he arrived at school. Then, of course, Sohma had to barge in and ruin the whole thing.

"You darn rat! I want a rematch – after school – without your little _girlfriends_ to cheer you on." Sohma sneered the word 'girlfriend' in a way that made it seem a deep insult.

Yuki glared. "I won yesterday. Isn't that enough for you? Do you really want me to beat your sorry hide twice in a row?"

"You're just saying that because you know I'll win this time!"

"Onii-chan…"

"Fine," Yuki spat, ignoring Tohru's attempts to protest. "Today, right after school, right here. Don't chicken out, Sohma."

He stalked away.

"As if I'd be scared of a rat like you!" Sohma shouted after him.

It was the start of a pattern.

Every day before school, Yuki and Sohma would exchange scathing insults, no matter how Tohru tried to soothe the tension between them. And every day after school, they would fight. All of Kaibara's teachers, and many of the first-year students, knew of their rivalry. No one could do anything about it, though. There were never any major injuries and they were never on school grounds.

Of course, Tohru always tried to stop the fights. One day, she said, "Nii-chan, if you fight today I'll tell okaa-san!"

"Okaa-san!" parroted Sohma. "Hear that, rat-boy? She'll tell mommy on you!"

Yuki grit his teeth and turned away from Sohma. "Let's go home," he said stiffly to his friends.

He was a fool for thinking that Sohma would let him go so easily. The orange-haired boy followed them to the train station, then to the very door of their apartment building, yelling insults and snide comments the entire time. The only thing that prevented him coming inside was Yuki's quick work of slamming the door in his face.

"I don't like that boy," Tohru admitted as they stood there, which was as unexpected a statement from her as an admission of secretly adoring pink would have been from Hanajima. "He's so mean to you." She sniffed. Not wanting her to cry, he took her hand.

"I don't like him either," Yuki said firmly. "I keep hoping he'll go away if I beat him hard enough."

Despite herself, Tohru giggled quietly.

"It hasn't worked yet," he added. Tohru laughed.

"You're so mean, onii-chan!"

"But you love me anyway," he responded cheekily.

"Yes, I love you anyway."

"Hey, guys, what's with the giggle-fest?"

"We're talking about Sohma," Yuki told his mother, turning to greet her as she walked through the door.

"You said he has bright orange hair, ne? I saw him on my way home. "

"Yeah," Yuki sighed. "I wouldn't fight him so he followed us until we got home."

"Good for you!" Kyoko's earnest smile reminded Yuki, uncomfortably, that she did not know about the daily fights. Tohru's glance told him reminded him again. "I'm proud of your self-control, Yuki. Let's go out for dinner!"

Yuki vowed to himself that he'd stop rising to Sohma's bait. Tohru smiled a little bit at him. She knew him well enough to know exactly what he was thinking.

"I have the feeling that there's some secret twin communication going on here," Kyoko scowled mock-angrily. "Don't do that, you two, it looks weird."

Smiling, Yuki and Tohru glanced away from each other. Kyoko rolled her eyes.

With their mother having just gotten a promotion in her company, and the siblings having more homework than ever, family time had been dramatically decreased. Eating out gave them the perfect excuse to catch up with each other.

Finally, as their food came, Yuki blurted out, "Kaa-chan, do you know Sohma?"

There was a pause. Kyoko looked at him oddly. "I know him through your descriptions, sure," she said lightly.

Yuki shifted uncomfortably. He couldn't let this go, but he didn't want to continue it either. "I heard you a while ago, after Sohma first started bothering us, and you called him Kyo-chan."

Kyoko laughed, while Tohru looked at him in confusion. "Eavesdropping, then, Yuki?" But she didn't seem upset. The mirth faded from her face while the siblings waited, and she became pensive. "Yes, I know him. I met Kyo-chan years ago, before the accident. You guys were probably about four."

She broke her chopsticks apart and toyed with her rice.

"He's a sweet kid, really. But he has it tough. His mother died when he was very young, suicide I think he said. His father blamed him, said that he had killed her."

Tohru made a little sound, like a squeak and a sob that got caught in the back of her throat. Yuki's eyes widened at that.

"When Kyo-chan's dad threw him out of the house, an uncle took him in. He owns a dojo. He had a cousin named Yuki – that's a coincidence, isn't it? – and they despised each other. His cousin always taunted him and picked on him, and everyone else did too because Yuki was the ringleader of the Sohma children.

"Kyo-chan's cousin Yuki disappeared a couple years ago. They think he's dead, but he was the darling of the family and, before Kyo-chan stopped talking to me, I saw bruises on his arms and face. I think they were beating him. I think they think he killed Yuki."

Kyoko pushed her vegetables around.

Yuki and Tohru were speechless, gaping at her. The story had been rather lacking in detail, but he could well imagine the rest. No wonder Sohma didn't like him! He probably reminded the orange-haired boy of Sohma Yuki.

With this new information, Yuki brooded in silence for the rest of the meal.


	16. Tell Him About The Curse

**Disclaimer: **No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.**  
Author's Note:**Thanks so much, you guys! T-T I took so long to update, but no one was mad at me… And you kept reviewing… You're the best! Thanks so much, everyone! And I'm really sorry, this chapter is short too. Hey, at least it's up faster!

**Honda Yuk****i**

"Fight me, you darn rat!" seethed Sohma after school, a week later. Yuki had purposely ignored him all week but now, listening to him rant and rage about how he would tear Yuki limb from limb, he turned.

"I'm not your cousin," Yuki said coolly, and turned away again. He expected a loud sound of fury, but there was a sudden silence instead. Yuki turned back around, telling Tohru, Uotani, and Hanajima to go on ahead.

"Heh," Sohma said quietly, looking at Yuki as if really seeing him for the first time. "That car did a number on you, didn't it?" Without letting Yuki answer, and suddenly very calm, he continued, "See you around, rat-boy." And walked away, as if there had never been any anger between them.

Yuki gaped. He couldn't know what had caused this sudden change in the volatile boy – nor what he meant by _that car did a number on you_. Had he known Kyo before he lost his memories? Maybe he had gone with Kyoko sometimes when she visited Kyo?

"Hey, pretty boy, get your butt over here! We're tired of waiting."

"Don't call me pretty boy, you yankee!" Yuki called back, running to catch up.

* * *

Yuki didn't know what was going on. Sohma had not been ignoring him, but neither had he been at all angry. It was strange. The day after his strange comment, he had been positively _friendly_, greeting Yuki in the morning as if he had been doing it for years (although, the nickname 'rat-boy' hadn't vanished as easily as his animosity) and had proceeded to start a conversation about the finer points of martial arts, a talk which Yuki had enjoyed immensely. As much as he loved his family and his friends, none of them were into martial arts like he was, and anything he tried to say had to be explained in painstakingly simple language before they understood. Even then, they didn't share his enthusiasm.

Sohma joined the group on their way home from school that day. Tohru and Uotani had their reservations about him still, but these were mostly abandoned when he began to bicker with the latter just as enthusiastically as Yuki did. He even had his own nickname – "Orangey," because his hair was so vibrant.

"Heck, with hair like that you could be another Honda!" Uotani had laughed when he protested. "It looks just like Kyoko's. Hey, did Kyoko have an affair with some Sohma dude?" she added to Yuki and Tohru, who shook their heads. "Well, if you got adopted, no one would know."

Sohma just snorted. "Honda-san picks up enough strays."

"But we've never had any pets," Tohru said, confused.

Sohma shot her a look, glanced at Yuki, and rolled his eyes. He didn't, however, elaborate on his statement.

After they had dropped off Hanajima at the train station, and Uotani at her apartment, Sohma said that he had to go, too.

"Are you sure?" Yuki really liked having a male friend. It was the one thing he'd always said he needed. And Sohma wasn't so bad, once he stopped the constant stream of insults. "Kaa-chan wouldn't mind seeing you."

But Sohma shook his head. "Places to go, people to see. Tell baa-chan hi from me," he said, and walked away.

Yuki and Tohru shared a look and held hands. Sohma, they agreed, was a very strange boy.

---

"What happened? You gotta tell me!" Haru hissed, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. He had been dragged to Kazuma's house by a very tight-lipped Kyo, and they had hidden in a back room that they were fairly sure was safe to talk in.

"I talked to him. I've been fighting with him, the way I always told him I would. He doesn't remember _anything_," Kyo said. "He's not the same as he was at all."

"Like how? The sitting-in-a-corner-and-never-talking thing?"

"And more," Kyo confirmed. "He hangs out with three girls, and one of them calls him 'onii-chan' all the time." He rolled his eyes. "It's so annoying. One of them is creepy, and the other's just…" Kyo rolled his eyes again, in such a way that Haru knew what he meant, mostly.

"He doesn't remember the curse?"

"No, he thinks that Tohru and Kyoko are his real family. But I've never seen him hug anyone."

"I want to meet him."

"How are you going to do that? It wouldn't be safe. Akito would find out – "

"Hatori cleared the way for you to go to Kaibara, right? He can get me in next year."

"But – "

"Tell him about the curse."

"_What_?!"

"Tell him about the curse," Haru repeated. "Or show him."

"Why?"

"I don't know. He needs to know."

"Who needs to know what?"

Haru and Kyo turned in horror to the door. Their minds raced through images of Hatori, Shigure, Akito… but it was only Kunimitsu.

"Nothing," Haru lied, relieved.

"What are you boys up to?" teased Kunimistu. "Come on, you can trust me, I won't tell anyone!"

The two exchanged glances. "Haru thinks that I should tell Shishou what his birthday present is, but I don't want to because that would ruin the surprise," Kyo lied with a completely neutral expression.

Kunimitsu's face showed that he wasn't buying this, but he just smiled and left.

"Why does he need to know?" Kyo hissed. Haru looked hesitant, and Kyo glared.

"Because I miss him," snapped Haru. "I want my cousin back and, darn it, I don't want to keep secrets from him!"

Kyo was unconvinced. "He doesn't need to know."

Sighing, Haru slumped back against the wall. "Is he happy, Kyo? He was always so sad before." Haru's voice was almost wistful; he had loved Yuki and didn't want him to suffer, even though he was free from Akito's grasp.

"He's happier than any of us," Kyo confirmed.

"That's good," Haru sighed, relieved. "I'd better go. I'll see you later."

"Yeah." The boys got up and walked to the door. Kunimitsu was leaning against it, his hand cupped to the wood. He raised an eyebrow, not looking at all sheepish having been caught eavesdropping.

"And who might you boys be talking about? It's not Kazuma-san's birthday present. His birthday isn't for months! Come on, tell me."

---

Yuki sneezed for the tenth time in half an hour.

"Are you getting sick, nii-chan?"

"No," Yuki sniffed, rubbing his nose. "I feel fine. Maybe someone is talking about me."

"I hope they're saying good things!"


	17. I've Never Hugged Anybody

_**Disclaimer: **No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.  
**Author's Note: **Thanks so much for all the reviews! I wish review responses were allowed. The new thing makes me feel like I have to write a paragraph, but I want so much to answer y'all personally!  
I decided to up the chapter length. It might be doubled, it might be more – but it will be increased dramatically. Unfortunately (-winces-) this means chapters probably won't be up as fast as they have been up, slow as I've been recently. I'm really sorry, but I hope the longer chapters will be worth it!_

_**FAQ: **To those who want to see Yuki and Tohru go and live with Shigure: What, are you trying to mess up my plot?! Sorry, but no. The way this fic was set up, it'd be a big reach to get just Yuki sent to Shigure if Kyoko died. Tohru would be nearly impossible. It's a good idea, but I'll let someone else write it. Sorry._

_I've also had a lot of questions about the pairing of this fic. To those wondering about any Kyoru romance: Sure, if you want to see me flounder helplessly and end up completely destroying your favorite pairing… Yes, that's how bad I am at writing romance._

**Honda Yuki**

The sky was cloudy overhead, deep woolen clouds that grumbled ominously and threatened rain. However, it had not begun to rain yet, so the students streaming out of Kaibara Highschool thought nothing of them.

"Come over to our house today, Kyo," Yuki insisted. "Kaa-chan would really love to see you."

"Yeah, Orangey, stop worrying Kyoko!" Uotani added, ruffling Sohma's hair.

"Don't call me Orangey!" Sohma glared and smoothed his brightly colored locks down again.

"But… okaa-san really would like to see you, Kyo-san!" chirruped Tohru. She had warmed to him immensely over the short time since he had become their friend. But then, Tohru was like that, Yuki reflected fondly. Once someone showed up as a decent person, any semblance of dislike she could have held just melted away.

Strangely bashful, Sohma shuffled his feet. "Alright," he said, very interested in his sneakers. "It'd be nice to see baa-chan again."

"We should leave now," hummed Hanajima, passive as ever.

"Oh! We have to hurry!" gasped Tohru. "It would be horrible if Hana-chan missed her train!"

At a general agreement, the five set off at a run. Well, four of them did – Hanajima settled for a rather swift walk, and somehow managed to keep up anyway.

---

After Hana-chan had been seen safely onto her train, and Uotani had split off with a wave, Sohma had yet to change his mind about visiting their house. He walked beside Yuki, with Tohru next to the orange-headed boy. They were deeply in conversation about cooking of all things.

"Isn't that a little feminine?" Yuki teased. "Martial arts and cooking – an interesting combination of hobbies."

"Yeah, well," Sohma snorted in reply, "Shishou could burn a salad if he tried to cook. He's nearly burnt down the house more than once, and we can't live on take-out. Why's your face so red, rat-boy?" He was smirking widely. Tohru giggled. "Are you blushing?"

"No!" Yuki protested, rubbing his cheeks. They had begun to burn at the off-hand comment; it struck home perfectly.

"Nii-chan can't cook," Tohru explained.

"Thanks for taking _my_ side!"

"Anytime, nii-chan," was the innocent reply.

Kyo was laughing loudly. Yuki scowled.

"_Tadaima_" he called, pushing open the door of their apartment. "We're home! Put your shoes there, Kyo."

"_Okaeri!_ Welcome home!" Emerging from the living room, Kyoko's face bore a smile as always. It fell away when she saw Kyo, however, and her eyes widened.

Kyo grinned widely. "Baa-chan!"

"_Koneko!_ My kitten!"

"Koneko?!"

Kyoko and Sohma looked at the two, identical 'well, yeah' expressions on their faces. Kyoko had ruffled Sohma's hair and her hand was still on his head, with his hand resting on top of hers.

Yuki made a face and elaborated, "Why do you call him Kitten?"

Kyoko opened and closed her mouth several times before looking at Sohma. Yuki knew her well enough to recognize the teasing glint in her eyes, but he didn't know what she was teasing about.

"Why _do_ we call you Kitten, Koneko?" But Sohma didn't answer her, and the subject was soon changed to schoolwork.

Hours later, Kyoko's eyebrows rose as she realized the time. Peeking out the window, however, revealed a very dark and very wet street outside, with rain pouring down in sheets so thick that the nearby street lamp was only a vague yellow glow.

"Call your shishou," she said to Sohma. "I'm not letting you go out in that weather, and my car is being repaired. You'll stay with us tonight."

"Alright," Sohma agreed, placidly enough, and wandered into the kitchen in search of the phone. They heard one side of the conversation: "Moshi-moshi. Shishou? Oh, Kunimitsu. Go get Shishou, it's Kyo. Thanks. … I'm sorry, Shishou! … Yes. … No, the weather's really bad, Kyoko – you remember, I told you about her – Kyoko says that I'm to spend the night here. So, … yes, I'm fine, don't sound so worried. … No, they haven't lynched me and they aren't going to… No, they haven't insulted me in any way. Yes, I'm sure. … NO! Don't cook yourself dinner. … Oh, come on, you can order take out, it's not like you can't afford it. … If they won't deliver in this rain, get Kunimitsu to cook. Don't even try to pretend he's not teaching the late classes tonight. … Well, I don't know, I guess I'll borrow some of Yuki's. … Alright, I'll be home tomorrow. Yes, I promise. Mata'ne."

The cordless phone beeped loudly as it was turned off. Kyo returned a moment later and ran a hand through his hair.

"He says it's cool."

A glance over at Tohru and Kyoko showed that they, too, were restraining their laughter. Tohru was the first to let out a giggle, and Sohma, after throwing her a sharp look, followed soon after.

---

It was decided that Sohma would stay in Yuki's room as opposed to on the couch. Kyoko dragged a guest futon out of the closet and Tohru happily helped to set it up.

Settling into bed that night, Kyo and Yuki talked – something that, Yuki insisted, was solely for _female_ slumber party type things. Still, it's not like Tohru would tease him about it.

"My family is really big," Kyo said. "And I mean _really_ big. I can't even count all the aunts and uncles I have, not to mention cousins and stuff."

"Wow," Yuki whistled. "For me, it's just kaa-chan and Tohru, and _Jii-san_, grandpa. Plus," he added dismissively, "My dad had some siblings, but I've never even met them."

"But at least they like you," murmured Sohma. He didn't look as though he meant for Yuki to hear, but he couldn't ignore a statement like that.

"What?"

From the way Kyo's cheeks lit up, it had indeed been intended as a private comment. "Nothing," he snapped, and flopped onto the guest futon. In an instant, he had said rather angrily that he was going to

sleep and then did just that. Either he was able to fall asleep instantly, or he was a good enough actor to fake it. Raising his eyebrows, admiring the skill either way, Yuki flicked off the light and climbed into his own bed.

As he was drifting off to sleep (unfortunately, Yuki had to drift and was not able to flip between sleeping and consciousness with the apparent ease that Sohma could), he thought he heard, "They all miss you, Yuki. No one ever had time to acknowledge the cat, but they all miss you." But he couldn't be sure; he was too asleep already.

---

Yuki wasn't sure what had woken him. It wasn't the alarm clock – that was set as loud as it could possibly go, and didn't stop until he'd gotten up, crossed the room, and found the off button. Yuki had… a little trouble waking up sometimes in the morning…

But the room was completely silent. And yet, he was wide awake, jolted out of a deep slumber. He sat up, pushing the blankets down to his legs, and peered around the dark room. His eyes spotted a dark lump on the floor and it took him to remember – Sohma's futon. The storm was too bad for him to go home. But where was Kyo?

Sliding out of bed, Yuki crept from the room. He had lived in the apartment his entire life; knew its every quirk including the places where the floor creaked even slightly. These were places that he avoided, not wanting to wake anyone up. Maybe Sohma had just gotten up for a snack or something.

"… My boy?" murmured a voice. Kyoko was still up? Her light was on, and the voice was hers. Now used to the secrecy of the night, Yuki's breathe came in short, quiet gasps and his steps were light. He opened the door just a crack and very slowly, knowing that it had a tendency to creak when you opened it quickly. He put his eye to the door and found Kyoko in her pajamas, curled atop the blankets with an orange cat in her lap. Where had it come from? They didn't have a pet at all, and certainly not such a vibrantly colored cat. She was looking at the it in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," said Sohma's voice. Yuki glanced around as much as he could through the narrow peephole but didn't see Sohma anywhere. "He's the same, but he's so different."

"Do you want him back?"

"No." A burst of purring from the cat when Kyoko began to scratch behind its ears. "A little lower, and to the right. Yeah, right there. Thanks. He's happier here. I don't want to be responsible for wrecking that."

"But you hate him."

Yuki stifled a sneeze. Were they talking about _him_?

"He's not the same." The cat rolled onto its back and looked at her, tail waving. "He used to be just the rat. And now he's… not. He's your son. I don't want him."

They were! But what did they mean? He couldn't figure it out; wasn't sure he wanted to.

Deciding to ask Sohma or Kyoko about it tomorrow, Yuki went back to his room and climbed into bed. There were still a few more hours of sleep to be had before school…

---

By the next morning, of course, Yuki had forgotten all about the strange conversation he had overheard.

"_Ohayou!_ Good morning!" Tohru chirped as he wandered into the kitchen, bleary eyed and with his buttons done up the wrong way.

"_Ohayou,_" Yuki replied. Tohru smiled at him.

"Let me help you, nii-chan."

"Eh? Oh." He blushed as she redid his shirt buttons. "Thanks, Tohru. I'm awake now, I'll get the rest."

Kyo snickered behind his breakfast. Yuki glared at him and returned his attention to Tohru.

"Did kaa-chan leave already?"

Tohru made an affirmative noise. "She had to be at work early today. Go sit down," she added, pushing a bowl of rice into his hands. Yuki did so without hesitation.

---

That day, school was the same as it always was; Uo-chan and Sohma fought, even during class, while Tohru half-tried to resolve their arguments and half-tried to pay attention to the teacher. Hana-chan ignored everything and everyone, except to give her occasional wave report, and Yuki got banned from raising his hand again – apparently, he answered too much. Go figure.

It wasn't until a ginger-colored cat darted in front of him on the way home that Yuki remembered the conversation he had witnessed the night before. He turned immediately to Sohma, disregarding that Uotani and Tohru were still with them.

"What were you talking to Kaa-chan about last night?"

Sohma's eyes widened and he glanced sideways at Yuki. His deer-in-the-headlights expression only piqued Yuki's curiosity. The orange-haired boy didn't speak for a long time, but stared into the sky. Yuki had almost given up when Kyo turned to him suddenly.

"Have you ever hugged your sister?" He gestured at Tohru, with his head. Fortunately, she and Uotani were engrossed in a conversation about the homework and didn't notice.

The strange question threw Yuki off-balance. "Of course I have," he replied automatically. After all, the Hondas were a very affectionate family. How could he have never hugged Kyoko or Tohru?

Sohma smirked, but he still seemed hesitant. "Are you so sure about that? Think hard."

Yuki thought. He scanned each day of his memory and was surprised by what he found. "I've never hugged Tohru. I've never hugged _anyone_."

It seemed that Sohma had been expecting this answer; he only nodded and said, "You know the bridge by the school track?"

"Of course."

"Meet me underneath it on Sunday afternoon. 'Bout two-thirty. Bring Tohru, and don't tell anyone."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you."

Yuki frowned. "Why not?"

Sohma definitely looked edgy now. "I can't tell you. Just meet me, okay?"

"Okay."

Sohma turned away and changed the subject abruptly.

---

The next day, Saturday, Yuki sat through the classes without absorbing a word of it. That in itself wasn't too much of a problem, he supposed at lunchtime when he had regained his senses. The exercises from the lesson would be in the textbook. He could just read that. But he wouldn't. At least, not until the meeting with Sohma was done tomorrow. After such a cryptic answer on Kyo's part, how was Yuki expected to concentrate on anything else? That was probably his goal in the first place. Yuki scowled.

"What's with _that_ expression, pretty boy?" Uotani teased.

Yuki blinked at her. "Hm? Oh. Nothing. I was just thinking."

"You must have been thinking very angry thoughts," said Tohru.

"Not angry." Hana didn't even look up from her _ika_. "Frustrated, and very curious."

"Thanks for the report," Yuki said dryly, picking at his rice bowl, "but I think I _knew_ that already."

"Hmm."

"What are you frustrated about, nii-chan?"

"Nothing, Tohru. It's fine."

"It's not polite to think about ripping Sohma-kun's trachea out… Just because he won't tell you…"

"Hana-chan, get out of my head!"

Hanajima gave a little smile and turned her attention to the bowl of _gobo_ soup. Uotani and Tohru looked at him curiously. Yuki groaned and lowered his head to the table as if that would ward off the inevitable questions.

---

"You're going to tell him?!" Haru's voice was excited. Once again, the two boys were cloistered in a back room of the dojo, talking quietly. Shishou and Kunimistu were busy teaching, so they were sure they wouldn't be missed.

"Tomorrow," Kyo said, nodding.

"What made you change your mind? You said you wouldn't."

"He saw me with baa-chan. I told you, she knows about the curse and he saw me after she'd hugged me. He asked. What could I say?"

Haru's eyes were wide.

"I'm coming with you tomorrow. When you show him."

"No. Absolutely no."

"Why?" Haru's chin went up, a sure sign that he was determined to have his way. One would never expect it of the spacey cow until they experienced his stubborn streak. After all, it was this same stubborn streak that made him refuse to get a cell-phone so that when he got lost he could call someone.

"He doesn't know you. He's going to be freaked out enough. A stranger there would be too much. He'd hate us, Haru."

"He knows me!" Haru protested. "He's seen me before. He doesn't know my name, but Yuki will recognize me."

Kyo sighed. There was no winning with him.

"I told him to bring his sister along. She's not cursed. I was going to hug her, prove that I'm not lying… if you're going along, you're bringing your own change of clothes. I don't want her traumatized when we change back."

"Deal."

---

Exactly twenty-five hours, forty-seven minutes and eight and a quarter seconds later (not that he was counting, of course) found Yuki staring fixedly at the kitchen clock. It was nearly time that he could go to meet Sohma under the bridge. He knew that he shouldn't be so worked up about this – but he couldn't help it. Yuki hated puzzles with a passion. They were always there, begging to be solved. They rankled at him until he just couldn't take it anymore. And the entire situation with Sohma and Kyoko was one big puzzle.

Deciding now was close enough, Yuki stood abruptly and yelled, "Tohru, let's go!"

She emerged from the living room where she had been doing her homework. "Go? Go where?"

"To meet Orangey under the bridge!"

"Why?" Tohru blinked at him. Yuki blushed. Had he forgotten to explain to her? Apparently.

"I'll tell you on the way. C'mon!"

As they hurried out the door and down the stairs (Tohru still slightly bemused), Yuki explained about the conversation he'd overheard between Kyoko and Sohma the night he stayed over.

"It was really weird. I didn't see Kyo in the room anywhere, but kaa-chan was holding a bright orange cat."

As they turned onto the street and headed for the school grounds, he went on to tell her about how he'd asked Sohma about it and the puzzling reply he'd received in return.

"He seemed really twitchy, you know? It made me curious."

Tohru smiled and took his hand. She was trotting to keep up with his longer strides. "You've always hated puzzles," she said.

Their conversation moved from the reason for the excursion and into other topics – how Tohru's _bento_ were better than the school lunches, the most efficient way to find the surface area of a cylinder, whether or not Megumi had any friends at his junior high, and how romantic it was that Hayami-sensei and Ogino-sensei were getting married (Tohru brought this up. Yuki quickly changed the subject once again).

When they got to the bridge, Sohma was already there… along with someone else. Yuki narrowed his eyes. The kid looked older than them, and he had a lot of white hair. He blinked. It was the same kid that popped out of nowhere every so often.

"Are we late?" Tohru asked shyly.

"We're early," said White-hair. He glanced for a second at Tohru, but then looked back at Yuki. His gaze was unnerving, and he found himself shifting uncomfortably. The not-quite stranger had a very calm, very unconcerned air about him… almost unnaturally so. He looked as if nothing could ever bother him. He looked… like a cow? Wait, what? Where had that come from?

"Yuki, Tohru, this is my cousin Sohma Hatsuharu." Kyo's voice was rather resigned. "Haru, meet Yuki and Tohru."

"_Hajimemashita,_" Hatsuharu said and the Honda siblings echoed him. "Get on with it, Kyo."

"Nii-chan has been very curious," added Tohru.

Kyo took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and let it out slowly. It was like this was all very painful for him.

"Alright," he said, walking up to Yuki and Tohru. Mostly Tohru. His eyes were on Yuki, like Hatsuharu's, and intense enough that Yuki admitted he was slightly scared. "I'm sorry about this. I'll explain after."

He put a hand on Tohru's shoulder and pushed her into Yuki.

---

**Author's Note: **Eek! Sorry for the cliffy! I hope the new length makes up for it…  
A quick translation:_ ika_ means squid, which is apparently fairly common in Japanese school lunches. _Gobo_ is burdock root. A _bento_, as I understand it, is something like a lunch box.


	18. Poof!

**Disclaimer: **No, I don't own the Furuba characters. To some extent, I own the character that is 'Yuki Honda', but it's a very small extent.  
**Author's Note: **My gosh, guys! I DID NOT mean to leave you hanging there! I honestly didn't! I wanted to have the next chapter up within a few days but – well – school started getting crazy and one thing led to another and now I feel super guilty… I'm sorry!

**Honda Yuki**

For an instant, Yuki looked down at his sister. She glanced up at him. He noticed that his arms were wrapped loosely around her, and that she was clinging to him. Panic shot through him and then –

_Poof_

Everything seemed so much bigger. Why was that? He put a hand to his head, which ached, but it felt strange.

_Poof_

Yuki reeled back. Another puff of smoke, this one orange instead of gray, and Yuki squeaked. The same orange cat he'd seen with Kyoko was standing in front of him – only it was giant! He clamped his hands over his mouth, disgusted at the squeak, but missed somehow.

The cat reached out an orange paw and batted at him. Yuki ducked and jumped to the side. Or, well, he tried to jump. He tripped over his tail.

_His tail?!_

"Relax, Yuki, you're fine," purred the cat, sounding rather amused. His voice, however, only served to make Yuki more confused. Something warm wrapped around him and his paws (_paws?!_) left the ground.

"Nii-chan?" said Tohru's voice, and he was looking into her face. It was ten times bigger than it had been just a minute ago. She looked down at the cat. "K-kyo-san?"

Yuki realized that he was sitting in her cupped hands. He was also shaking rather violently.

"I think I'll sit out this time," Hatsuharu mused. He picked up the cat – was it really Kyo? – and turned back to the Honda siblings. "Kyo, I'm not sure this was a good idea. Yuki doesn't look so good… Has he had any attacks lately?"

"You stupid cow! It was _your_ idea in the first place!" Kyo bristled. "He's fine, never had any attacks… so far as I know…" Sohma trailed off uncertainly, looking at Yuki.

Yuki clung to Tohru's thumb. "I shrunk," he mumbled to himself. "But – no – that's… I passed out, that's it… I was on my way to meet Kyo with Tohru and I passed out and this is all some bizarre dream…"

"Yo! Rat-boy!" Kyo hissed, effectively snapping Yuki out of his mutterings. "You want me to explain or not?"

"Yes, Kyo-san, please." Tohru sounded as faint as Yuki felt.

The cat took a deep breath. He looked like a balloon being blown up.

Then he let it out, deflated, and hung limply in Hatsuharu's arms. "It's the Zodiac," he said finally. "The twelve animals of the Zodiac – plus me. The Cat." He spat out the last two words in the same way that Kyoko always spat out Yuki's cooking. Yuki felt a surge of dislike that he had never, _ever_ felt before. "There's thirteen of us, altogether. Haru is the ox. And you're the Rat," he added quietly, looking at Yuki. Yuki felt strange. He felt like he should have heard hatred in Kyo's voice. As if he had heard the hatred before. But he never had. What was going on?

"I came here to have my questions answered, but I only get more questions," he murmured to himself. Shaking his head, Yuki peered over Tohru's fingers at Kyo. "Who are the others?"

"All Sohmas," was the reply. "All members of my family."

"But…" This was confusing. "I'm not a Sohma. Kaa-chan isn't, and no one in Too-san's family, either…"

"You're – " Hatsuharu began eagerly. Yuki noticed Kyo's claws slipping out, digging into his cousin's skin. Hatsuharu stopped there.

"You're the exception. We don't know why."

"How long have you known that I'm…?"

Sohma and Hatsuharu looked at each other. "I knew you before the car crash," Hatsuharu said. "We were friends at school. But I transferred…"

"We've always known," Sohma elaborated, "And you used to… but then, well." He paused, squirming in Hatsuharu's grip. "Uh-oh. Tohru, put Yuki down and close your eyes. Don't look until I say it's alright."

"Why?" Tohru lowered Yuki to the ground and he tumbled ungracefully from her palm. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Rats and cats don't wear clothes," Kyo answered.

_Poof! Poof!_

Yuki coughed on the smoke that appeared. He couldn't see anything… which was probably just as well, because it meant that no one could see him. He wasn't wearing anything. As if in answer to this thought, his shirt and pants sailed through the smoke cloud and Sohma's voice instructed him to 'get dressed, don't just sit there, rat-boy! Tohru, don't look yet.'

Yuki got dressed as quickly as he could and stood up.

"That," he gasped, wide-eyed and looking quite ridiculous, "is something that I _never_ want to do again. Ever."

Kyo, fully dressed and standing arrogantly with his fists on his hips, laughed humorlessly. "We know the feeling," he assured the trembling Yuki. Tohru bustled up, taking Yuki's hand with a concerned expression and clutching it for all she was worth. She was shaking, too, but not as badly as him.

"Baa-chan knows, too," Sohma admitted quietly. "I told her just a bit ago. She knew about me already."

Hearing Sohma refer to Kyoko as baa-chan had never failed to bring on a certain warmth in Yuki but now when he said there was nothing. He felt his heart beat quicken and he swallowed. This day was getting stranger and stranger all the time. He just wanted to go back to yesterday, when everything was relatively simple.

"Can… can we meet them? The others, I mean?" he asked squeakily, voice unsteady.

Hatsuharu and Sohma exchanged panicked glances. "Yes," Hatsuharu answered, "But not today. And not any time soon. There's… there's someone that… would love to meet you… which is not a good thing." He spoke like he was trying to tiptoe around an angry lion in hopes that it would bite him in the butt.

This only made Yuki more curious, but he acquiesced.

"My dad runs a dojo," Sohma offered. "It's more out of the way than the one you go to, but Shishou is a good teacher. And I could convince the others that they want to come to a tournament or something."

Sohma's father taught martial arts? No wonder he was so good!

"What belt are you?" he asked eagerly, having never found out before.

Sohma grinned. "I'm working toward my _judan_," he admitted. Yuki's eyebrows shot up. The _judan_ black belt was the highest belt to be obtained in any form of martial arts. He himself had only just achieved his _yodan_, the fourth degree black belt. While he was no slouch, Sohma was the same age and six degrees ahead. How had Sohma ever lost against him?!

"And you learned everything from your father?" he asked in awe. "I'll definitely ask Kaa-chan if I can transfer, then!"

With that, the two groups happily went their separate ways. Yuki and Tohru were very quiet on the way home.

--

The back room in Shishou's dojo was fast becoming a favorite place for Kyo and Haru to talk.

"You've met him now. What do you think?" Kyo prompted after Haru had been silent for a long time.

"He's… different," Haru said quietly. "I knew he was going to be, but I didn't expect…"

"Yeah," said Kyo. "It was like that for me, too."

"He's so open!"

Kyo nodded.

"So happy," Haru added. "Did you see how Tohru-san took his hand? They've got to be really close."

"They are. Hardly ever go anywhere without each other."

Haru smiled. "If Yuki's going to learn from Shishou now, do you want me to quietly spread the word?"

Kyo shrugged. "To some people." Momiji couldn't keep his mouth shut; it'd be all over the complex in an hour that Yuki was alive and learning martial arts at Kazuma's dojo. Hiro would probably tell someone just to spite Kyo. Kisa had stopped talking a year before. She hadn't spoken a word, let alone a secret. Rin probably wouldn't care enough to tell anyone. Kagura wouldn't tell if Kyo asked her not to…

A nod from the Ox. He knew exactly what Kyo was thinking without anymore words needed.

As tended to happen during their talks, the door was suddenly thrown open and light filled the room. They both flinched, turned, and flinched again upon realizing who was standing there.

"My, my, my, two handsome young boys alone together in a small, dark room? If this doesn't give me an idea for a new novel, hmmm…"

"Shigure!" snapped Kyo, "What are you doing here?" He got to his feet, for once not caring about the perverted Dog's perverted comments. He was just glad Shigure hadn't overheard them talking about Yuki.

"Oh, nothing," sang Sohma Shigure. "Just popped by to drop off some of my books for Kazuma-saaan!"

"I'll burn them!" Kyo roared, charging Shigure. Laughing, the latter sprinted from the house. Kyo didn't try to chase after him.

Shigure smirked to himself, slowing down to a more dignified walk and glancing over his shoulder at Kazuma's house, and more specifically the orange-haired ward glaring at him from the window. So, Yuki-chan was alive again after all these years of being missing, was he? The Dog chuckled. He would keep the information to himself. It could offer him some valuable leverage should he ever get into trouble with Akito-sama… What a delicious fact to stumble over!


End file.
